NASA’s Hubble Uncovers Unprecedented Changes in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: A New Era of Storm Dynamics

The storm has been observed to change between December 2023 and March this year. The change in size has never been seen before.

New results from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope presented at the 56th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences and published in the Planetary Science Journal revealed unexpected changes in Big red spot (GRS), Jupiter’s giant storm, challenging previous assumptions about its stability.

The storm, known for its iconic red color and large size, was seen in sleep in his form over a 90-day period from December 2023 to March 2024. Scientists have long known that the GRS has been declining over the years, but these new observations suggest that it is also ” oscillating” dynamically, which indicates instability in its structure.

The team responsible for these observations noted that the elliptical shape of the storm is often compressed, similar to a pressure ball being pressed in different directions.

Amy Simon, lead author from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said, “Although we knew that its motion varied in width, we did not expect that its size would also vary.” never found this size change before and There is currently no explanation hydrodynamics for these observations, which indicate that the mechanics underlying the storm are more complex than previously thought.

The conclusions come from the first set of observations with sufficient time span to take a close look at GRS trends. Using Hubble’s high-resolution imaging capabilities, researchers observed that GRS not only changes in shape but also accelerate and decelerate over time, explaining the IFLS science.

As the storm moves, it interacts with the jet stream to the north and south, and co-researcher Mike Wong of the University of California at Berkeley likens it to a sandwich. “The bread slices had to go out when there is too much material in the center,” explained Wong, referring to the dynamic forces at play between the storm and the surrounding wind patterns.

In addition to its unusual oscillations, the heart of GRS also appears brightness differencesespecially in ultraviolet light, as observed by Hubble. The storm appears to be brighter when it is at its peak, which researchers believe may be related to changes in the amount of air in the atmosphere.

The Great Red Spot, a storm that has been around for at least 150 years, has been decrease over the past ten yearsas observed by NASA’s Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program. However, this shortening does not necessarily mean that the storm is weakening or disappearing.

Researchers believe that the wind that compresses the GRSboth from the north and the south, to help stabilize it. “As soon as it shrinks within that band, the winds keep it in place,” Simon said, suggesting that the GRS could continue in a smaller, more stable form.