At 10,000 miles across, the Great Red Spot is the largest storm in our solar system and has been continually observed for around 200 years, but it’s been around for much longer. (Compare that with big storms on Earth, which generally last a few days or weeks at most.)
How big is the storm in Jupiter?
about 10,000 miles
We’ve long known just how great the Great Red Spot is. The storm’s diameter is about 10,000 miles, or more than 16,000 kilometers, wide, meaning that our planet Earth could fit completely inside the wild tempest. But scientists never fully understood how deep the Great Red Spot was.
Is Jupiter’s storm getting smaller?
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot has had a hard time in recent years. It has been steadily shrinking in the east-west direction for decades, and recent encounters with smaller vortices has led to enormous flakes of reddish material being drawn out of the spot itself.
Why is life not possible on Jupiter?
Jupiter’s environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.
Is Jupiters red spot shrinking?
The Great Red Spot is a high-pressure system located in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere. “In the Voyager era, you could fit about three Earth across the Great Red Spot, but it’s been steadily shrinking and is now just bigger than the Earth,” said the paper’s co-author Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard.
Can a planet become a black hole?
If a black hole were to form from the Earth itself, it would create an event horizon just 1.7 centimeters in diameter. If, somehow, the electromagnetic and quantum forces holding the Earth up against gravitational collapse were turned off, Earth would quickly become a black hole.
What is the giant storm on Jupiter?
The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on Jupiter’s surface. It is similar to a hurricane but much larger in size. In fact, three earths could fit in the size of the Great Red Spot. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was first discovered in the 1600’s by astronomer Robert Hooke.
How big is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot?
The Great Red Spot is the most noticeable feature on Jupiter’s surface — a storm about 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) long and 7,500 miles (12,000 km) wide, about two to three times larger than Earth. Winds at its oval edges can reach up to 425 mph (680 km/h).
How old is the Great Red Spot?
The Great Red Spot is an old storm! It’s at least 180 years old and could possibly be over 340 years old. As long as we have been observing Jupiter, the Great Red Spot has been generally located on the same latitude. The current Great Red Spot is big enough to contain two or three planets the size of the Earth.
Is there a storm in Jupiter?
In general, storms on Jupiter are pretty badass. A storm called the North North Temperate Little Red Spot 1 is 3,700 miles across. Yes, a storm that’s over 3,000 miles across — which is roughly the distance from California to New York — is considered “little” on Jupiter.
