Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is SHRINKING: 3 Earths Long in 1879 #Shorts
Pack: 27 - Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is SHRINKING 3 Earths Long in 1879
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the largest known vortex on any planet in the solar system, has shrunk since at least 1879, and telescopes and spacecraft have tracked it.
- In 1879 its long axis measured about 39,000 km, roughly three Earths end to end; it was first seen in 1831 (Sánchez-Lavega et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2024).
- Voyager's 1979 flybys measured it at about 14,500 miles (23,300 km) across; Hubble put it at about 10,250 miles in 2014 (NASA, 2014).
- On April 3, 2017 it was about 16,000 km wide, 1.3 times Earth's width (NASA/JPL, 2017); a 2024 study put it near 14,000 km long (Sánchez-Lavega et al., 2024).
- Juno's 2021 results: its roots reach over 350 km below the cloud tops (microwave) and no more than about 500 km (gravity) (NASA/JPL, 2021).
- Hubble watched it wobble in size over about 90 days in 2023–24; the team expects it to keep shrinking before settling into a stable, rounder shape (NASA, 2024).
Will it fade away, or settle into a smaller, rounder storm?
Quick answers
What is “Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is SHRINKING: 3 Earths Long in 1879” about?
Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the largest known vortex on any planet in the solar system, has shrunk since at least 1879, and telescopes and spacecraft have tracked it.
What are the key facts?
In 1879 its long axis measured about 39,000 km, roughly three Earths end to end; it was first seen in 1831 (Sánchez-Lavega et al., Geophysical Research Letters, 2024). Voyager's 1979 flybys measured it at about 14,500 miles (23,300 km) across; Hubble put it at about 10,250 miles in 2014 (NASA, 2014).
What sources is this Short based on?
It cites Sánchez-Lavega et al., "The Origin of Jupiter's Great Red Spot", Geophysical Research Letters (2024): https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108993 ; UPC release (July 8, 2024); NASA, "NASA's Hubble Shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Smaller than Ever Measured" (May 15, 2014); NASA/JPL, "NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot" (Dec 11, 2017); NASA/JPL, "NASA's Juno: Science Results Offer First 3D View of Jupiter Atmosphere" (Oct 28, 2021); and 1 more. Links are in the Sources list below.
Sources
- Sánchez-Lavega et al., "The Origin of Jupiter's Great Red Spot", Geophysical Research Letters (2024): https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108993 ; UPC release (July 8, 2024)
- NASA, "NASA's Hubble Shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot is Smaller than Ever Measured" (May 15, 2014)
- NASA/JPL, "NASA's Juno Probes the Depths of Jupiter's Great Red Spot" (Dec 11, 2017)
- NASA/JPL, "NASA's Juno: Science Results Offer First 3D View of Jupiter Atmosphere" (Oct 28, 2021)
- NASA Science, "NASA's Hubble Watches Jupiter's Great Red Spot Behave Like a Stress Ball" (Oct 9, 2024)
Images
- "Jupiter, image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, June 2019", NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (NASA Goddard), public domain
- "Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (8-Panel)" (Dec 2023–Mar 2024), NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI), public domain
- "PIA00022 Jupiter Great Red Spot Mosaic" (Voyager 1, March 1979), NASA/JPL, public domain
- "Jupiter OPAL 2024" (Hubble, Jan 5–6, 2024), NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), processing Joseph DePasquale (STScI), public domain (NASA release copy)
- "PIA24820: Measuring the Gravity of Jupiter's Great Red Spot" (illustration, 2021), NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI, public domain
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