A Great Gift

Jupiter cloud details as seen by HST
Jupiter cloud details as seen by HST

Well, yesterday was my birthday, and so the planet Jupiter (along with the Hubble Space Telescope) obligingly delivered a cool gift (not just to me, of course): a picture of a new “Great Red Spot” forming on the planet Jupiter. It turns out that, just like there’s climate change going on here on our planet, Jupiter’s giant and stormy atmosphere is undergoing change, too. Global warming on the King of the Planets, however, will raise temps there about 10 degrees F. Heat will get transferred from the equator to the south pole, although that movement of heat lessens as it reaches the latitude of the new spot. So, there’s a clue in there somewhere about the dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere. Stay tuned!

For more information on this story, go to the Hubble Space Telescope Jupiter Red Spot page.