Comments on: Jupiter’s got acne!

By: Jupiter’s Red Spot chews up and spits out a storm | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:15:08 +0000

[...] the first panel you can see the smaller storm on the left (this is the same storm we saw in May, when Jupiter suddenly got acne). In the middle panel, taken about six weeks later, it just [...]

By: Geomancer

Geomancer — Fri, 23 May 2008 20:07:19 +0000

Thanks, andy!

By: DennyMo

DennyMo — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:09:56 +0000

Oh come on, we all know the increased storm activity is due to all greenhouse gases the Jovian people are polluting their atmosphere with. (Well, somebody had to say it. )

By: AlexBenjM

AlexBenjM — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:05:04 +0000

I just had a thought, have anybody done any modelling or research on what would happen to Jupiter in the distant future as it settles down to an equilibrium? I seem to remember somebody predicting that assuming nothing else significantly disturbs it in the distant future, Jupiter’ll lose all traces of colors and become a bluish color as it reaches a chemical and thermal equilibrium.

Eventually Jupiter’s energy sources will run out and the sun will go nova, when that occurs, will it be enough to strip Jupiter of all of its atmosphere or will it just sail through and settle down to a quiet state?

By: AlexBenjM

AlexBenjM — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:58:55 +0000

Dorfl, you’re pretty close, the exact expression is angular momentum. Jupiter’s got so much of it that any tidal friction from its many tiny moons and the distant sun is probably close to negligible. Over extremely long time spans, Jupiter will slow down a little bit but I wonder if we would even notice any difference if we were still around.

If there’s no friction or any energy interactions, Jupiter will rotate forever. Because it’s got angular momentum doesn’t necessarily mean it will eventually slow down like tops on Earth where there’s plenty of friction.

By: NoAstronomer

NoAstronomer — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:27:45 +0000

This picture is APOD for May 22nd. Acccording to their description: 'If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much larger storm system in August' The much larger storm system being the Great Red Spot. Allright!

By: Dorfl

Dorfl — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:14:01 +0000

Question about this: Jupiter spins fast and is a lot larger than earth.

Any evidence Jupiter is slowing down? Earth’s rotation is slowing down (Because of the moons/tidal waves, I think, please enlighten me if wrong). Jupiter obviously has a lot more rotational momentum (not sure whether that’s the same expression in English as in my native language) but still, shouldn’t the big guy slow down over time?

By: DarkSapiens

DarkSapiens — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:34:30 +0000

Excellent explanation, Phil, as always.

I couldn’t resist to translate this post into Spanish. The result is here:

http://cidam.es/foro/viewtopic.php?t=297

If translating this is wrong, or I don’t have your permission, please, PLEASE tell me.

I didn’t want to violate copyright, just make this information and your incredible way to explain things available to Spanish speakers.

Regards.

By: andy

andy — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:57:42 +0000

Geomancer: “organic” refers to any molecule containing both carbon and hydrogen, which is the typical usage in chemistry I think. The name dates back from when it was thought that organic compounds could only be synthesised by living organisms through some kind of “life force”. This theory has been proven false, but the name remains.

(Some sources relax the hydrogen requirement, but graphite and diamond are NOT usually treated as organic compounds, nor are carbonates)

By: Russ Brown

Russ Brown — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:00:47 +0000

Is it just me, or does the Great Red Spot now look like a nipple?

Fair enough, I thought. As we recently had a Thingy on Mars.

By: Geomancer

Geomancer — Fri, 23 May 2008 09:10:22 +0000

“It’s unclear why; in general the colors of the storms indicate their chemical composition, and red usually means complex organic compounds. Maybe they were dredged up from deep beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops, or maybe the storm gained altitude, high enough that incoming solar ultraviolet light was able to reassemble the molecules into new ones that are red (that’s called photolysis, for those keeping track at home). That last idea is supported by the idea that the storm is bright in infrared — usually, methane in Jupiter’s atmosphere absorbs infrared light, so the only way a storm can be bright in IR is for it to rise above most of the methane in the air.”

Forgive me my ignorance, but I was unaware that any “organic” compounds had been well documented elsewhere in the Solar system… Am I simply out of touch (a real possibility since my focus is on systems on Earth, not elsewhere), or is your definition of ‘organic’ different from mine (which is something akin to “produced by an organism”). I realize that non-biogenic systems can yield biogenic-seeming isotopic signals (take a peek at iron isotopes, for example), and that complex hydrocarbons can arise through abiogenic means, but…I don’t think that’s quite the same thing.

I guess the short version is “organic” implies a biogenic origin, at least in some disciplines…so how, exactly, are you defining it?

(thanks in advance, and sorry to be a stickler, but I’ve found that many scientific fields use words in a slightly different manner, and “organic” is one that I think needs to be well defined in any context)

By: sprocket

sprocket — Fri, 23 May 2008 07:28:38 +0000

It’s not acne. It’s just that the old red spot has had a couple of kids. Life on Jupiter staring us in the face?

By: CR

CR — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:18:37 +0000

Oval BA passed the GRS at least once that I read about, and neither merged with the other, but they are at differenet latitudes. This new spot appears to be aligned with the GRS. Are they converging? And if so, might they merge?

By: Jeffersonian

Jeffersonian — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:36:31 +0000

I just loved reading this post. Never get tired of the J-man, ju-pit-tair!

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:18:25 +0000

What, I wonder, is causing these vortices to form in this particular location: some deep energy source perhaps?

Or an effect of the first disturbance affecting its environment? It comes down to understanding their dynamics.

By: Thomas Siefert

Thomas Siefert — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:24:21 +0000

Looks like an English breakfast.

By: Lugosi

Lugosi — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:15:48 +0000

So are you suggesting that Jupiter is going through puberty?

By: John Paradox

John Paradox — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:47:04 +0000

Todd W.
The anti-vax movement has more power than I thought!

This just in: NASA and the CDC have started a joint mission to vaccinate planets!

J/P=?

By: Sili

Sili — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:22:32 +0000

Is that a vortex street? Absolutely beautiful either way.

By: wright

wright — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:20:27 +0000

If blackheads start popping out of Jupiter, does that mean Velikovsky was right??

By: Greg23

Greg23 — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:37:39 +0000

Jupiter’s bands are so artistically beautiful (sorry Carolyn/Saturn).

I have a new screensaver.

By: Daniel Fischer

Daniel Fischer — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:27:03 +0000

Have a look at this Jupiter movie a German amateur astronomer took in late April with a methane-band filter: All three storms are clearly visible! A Berkeley/Keck press release actually hails the contributions of amateur astronomers whose work nicely augments Hubble and Keck.

By: James H.

James H. — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:03:18 +0000

I remember a presentation (NOVA perhaps?) a few years ago where several scientists were attempting to generate a computer model of Jupiter’s complex system, and after a while they succeded in forming large cyclonic storms just like you see on Jupiter and sometimes on the other gas planets as well. I wish I could remember the name of that now, but I’m getting old….and getting spots too…I’ll try and looking it up and post it here.

By: SkepticTim

SkepticTim — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:47:24 +0000

It is interesting to note that both the great red spot, and the little red spot spin anticyclonicaly, opposite to the circulation of hurricanes, tornadoes and other violent storms on earth. I wonder if this new spot is also an anticyclone.
Also, the great red spot is observed to be slowly fading while the little red spot is growing in strength: is it significant that all of the new spots are forming in the same region as the old spot: (perhaps replacing it)? What, I wonder, is causing these vortices to form in this particular location: some deep energy source perhaps?

By: Todd W.

Todd W. — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:40:48 +0000

@J/P=?

The anti-vax movement has more power than I thought!