In 1665 , astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini observed a massive tempest reprimand on Jupiter . It became known as the Great Red Spot , a swirling ellipse of clouds that ’s almost twice as wide-cut as Earth . New research , however , suggests that the red - hue feature spotted by Cassini is not the same tempest we see today .
Using historical notice of Jupiter from the 17th century , a squad of scientist found that theGreat Red Spothas likely persisted for a bare 190 years as pit to 300 years of swirling farting . In apaperpublished in the Geophysical Research Letters , the researchers argue that the swirling storm note by Cassini is now travel , but that a fresh one was stick out in its position years later .
After discovering the disconsolate reddish oval on Jupiter , Cassini and other astronomer continue to observe the storm until 1713 . For more than a hundred after , the storm had n’t been experience . It was n’t until 1831 when astronomer observed a alike ellipse figure at the same line of latitude . Since then , scientists have debated whether it was the same storm or a unlike one .
The Great Red Spot captured by the Juno mission.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran
The wrongfully named ‘ Permanent Spot ’ likely disappear sometime between the mid-18th and 19th centuries , accord to the researcher behind the unexampled paper . Jupiter ’s Great Red Spot , on the other hand , may go steady back by at least 190 years .
The Great Red Spot is also much larger than its older counterpart , extend over 200 Admiralty mile ( 350 kilometers ) . When it was first observed , the Great Red Spot extended over 24,200 miles ( 39,000 kilometers ) but it has been shrinking ever since . Today , the storm stretch out to 8,700 mile ( 14,000 kilometers ) and has become more rounded in shape . Earlier watching of the Permanent smirch paint a picture the tempest would have had to triple in size to equate to the Great Red Spot , harmonize to the study .
The Red Spot is the large sleep together storm in the solar system , consume up one - sixth the diam of Jupiter itself . Unlike hurricanes on Earth , the Great Red Spot rotates counterclockwise , which suggests that it ’s a in high spirits - pressure organization . The understanding why the violent storm has been able to storm on for all those yr may have to do with Jupiter ’s gaseous nature . Storms on Earth run to dissipate once they reach land , but Jupiter is made up of liquid layers instead of a solid open .
Cassini’s drawings of the red spot in the 1600’sImage: G. D. Cassini / Eric Sussenbach / AGU
Understanding the giant storm is not light , with Jupiter ’s clouds obstructing a clear view of the Great Red Spot in its low standard atmosphere . The new field of study suggests the Red Spot could have formed from a gigantic superstorm , with several small convolution unify together . There ’s still much to ascertain about Jupiter ’s raging storms , but scientists can turn to historic observations to get together clues about the Jovian system ’s enigma .
“ It has been very motivating and revolutionize to turn to the note and drawings of Jupiter and its Permanent Spot made by the corking astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini , and to his articles of the 2d half of the seventeenth century describing the phenomenon , ” Agustín Sánchez - Lavega , a worldwide scientist at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao , Spain , and lead source of the new newspaper , say in a statement . “ Others before us had explored these observations , and now we have quantify the results . ”
More : Astronomers Chase Shadows From Jupiter ’s Mysterious Trojan Asteroids
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