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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday April 12 2017, @08:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the drops-of-jupiter dept.

Two Soylentils "spotted" this news about a great cold spot being found on Jupiter.

Great Cold Spot Found on Jupiter

Space.com reports on the discovery, published in Geophysical Research Letters of an unusually cold area in Jupiter's atmosphere:

The cool patch stretches up to 15,000 by 7,500 miles (24,000 by 12,000 km) across at its largest, and it's about 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) cooler than the surrounding area in the planet's upper atmosphere. Although it disappears from time to time it seems to always re-form, just offset from the planet's bright aurora.

According to a press release,

The Great Cold Spot is thought to be caused by the effects of the magnetic field of the planet, with the massive planet's spectacular polar aurorae driving energy into the atmosphere in the form of heat flowing around the planet.

This creates a region of cooling in the thermosphere, the boundary layer between the underlying atmosphere and the vacuum of space. Although we can't be sure what drives this weather feature, a sustained cooling is very likely to drive a vortex similar to the Great Red Spot.

The press release has links to videos about the phenomenon.

Jupiter's Great Cold Spot

A "Great Cold Spot" has been found at Jupiter's higher latitudes using the Very Large Telescope's CRIRES instrument:

Astronomers have been characterizing Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a brilliant, swirling storm located just south of the planet's equator, for the better part of three centuries. Now, scientists say they have found another great spot on Jupiter at higher latitudes.

The "Great Cold Spot" is defined by its temperature relative to the surrounding upper atmosphere on the planet. Temperatures in Jupiter's upper atmosphere range from about 700 to 1,000 Kelvin, and the relatively well-defined cold area is about 200 Kelvin cooler. Measuring about 24,000 kilometers in longitude and 12,000 kilometers in latitude, the cold spot is nearly as large as the more famous red spot.

The Juno spacecraft will be able to provide additional data about the region.

related stories:
JunoCam Works, First New Images From Jupiter Sent Back
Videos: Auroras on Jupiter
Jupiter's Spooky Sounds: Emissions from Jupiter's Auroras Captured


Original Submissions: #1 and #2

 
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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Wednesday April 12 2017, @10:49PM (1 child)

    by kaszz (4211) on Wednesday April 12 2017, @10:49PM (#493121) Journal

    The problem is currently cost. Space-X is best positioned to get that cost down.

    If people go into interplanetary space. Then there's the problems with radiation protection, lack of gravity and food growing. For Mars there's the lethal risk of back contamination.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @11:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 12 2017, @11:33PM (#493133)

    But the US and Russia both had nuclear reactor heated rocket engines available in the 60s-early 70s capable of 2x the fuel economy of current rockets using liquid hydrogen (plus hexane to reduce embrittlement) as a non-reactive propulsion medium. They had plans that could've put men on Mars in the *60s* in under a few months of travel.

    However as mentioned they shelved the budget for it and the rest is 40 years of failed history that could have been busy reducing ecological damage on earth by grabbing the majority of our rare minerals from outside our immediate orbit, while also providing off-planet colonies of humans and test locations for future weapons systems, as needed.

    Instead we're busy using civilian populations as weapons tests and poisoning our own ecosystems all for the wealth of the few and the elite, while most people become poorer and less healthy while also working longer and longer hours.