Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has always been something of an oddball. With its many moons, unusual ring system and magnetic field unlike anything else we’ve ever seen, it’s no surprise that researchers are baffled by what they’re witnessing right now in Jupiter’s atmosphere. In fact, it could point to our first hint at life outside of Earth! Read on to learn more about this strange phenomenon and why we think it might be directly related to living organisms in the gas giant’s atmosphere.
What did astronomers discover?
Astronomers have discovered a storm happening on Jupiter. It is not clear what exactly the storm is, but it is possible that the gas giant has its own Great Red Spot. Astronomers first detected the storm in 2016 and have been continuously observing it since then. For now, they are still trying to figure out what caused this storm and how long it will last. There’s also no word as to whether or not this new spot could be a small solar system within our solar system. Whatever it may be, scientists can only speculate at the moment. The storm itself is enormous, which means it would take Earth 1 year to make one complete revolution around Jupiter. Scientists were able to observe the event with Hubble Space Telescope because there was an alignment of Earth and Jupiter when the moon Ganymede was casting shadows onto its surface. What we do know for sure is that we don’t know anything yet! So far, there’s no word as to what might have caused the storm – some people say it might be a rotating vortex, others say it might be global thunderstorms. Some believe that the event could lead astronomers closer to solving mysteries like dark matter and fast radio bursts. What’s more fascinating is that many planets outside of Earth have gas giants similar to ours! So maybe this storm isn’t such a strange thing after all.
How do we know this happened recently?
A little over a month ago, NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered into orbit around the gas giant and has been sending back data. The truth is, it’s not easy to tell what’s happening to Jupiter right now because we need more time for research. However, one thing that we do know for certain is that something weird is going on with the planet’s atmosphere. For example, while the northern hemisphere of Jupiter used to be mainly blue in color, there are now a bunch of pink stripes appearing in that region. Nobody knows why this is happening or how long it will last, but it’s definitely strange! But, don’t worry: You can still see the North Pole of Jupiter as blue if you look closely enough. And, there are no signs of anything life-threatening happening. Scientists have discovered an unexplained darkening at higher latitudes that is slowly spreading towards the equator and it might have something to do with these new pink stripes. And finally, even though this sounds like a really big deal, scientists assure us that everything is normal and all we need to do is sit tight until they figure out what’s going on so they can give us a definitive answer.
Why is it hard to get detailed information about the Great Red Spot?
So why is it so difficult to get detailed information about the Great Red Spot? The most likely reason is that there’s nothing unusual happening with the Great Red Spot. It could be that there are some changes happening in the atmosphere of Jupiter and, given how long it takes to transmit data from a spacecraft orbiting Jupiter, we just haven’t had enough data to notice any significant changes yet. It could also be that NASA and other space agencies around the world don’t want to share any potential discovery before they’re ready for prime time.
It could also simply be that NASA doesn’t have anyone looking at Jupiter right now – or if they do, they’re not doing anything interesting.
Finally, it might not exist at all! There are many theories about what lies at the center of this giant storm but no one knows for sure because its surface area has never been seen up close. If you go back through old photographs, you’ll see that it’s shrunk over time and if this continues then someday soon there will only be a small storm left on Jupiter. There will still be a few theories floating around but without much evidence to back them up…who knows what is really going on inside the Great Red Spot!
What does it mean for the future of our solar system?
Scientists have been monitoring the atmosphere of Jupiter for over a year now, and they are finally beginning to see some major changes. What does this mean for our solar system? Nobody knows yet. The truth is, nobody can say what it means until we figure out what’s going on with Jupiter. We just know that something strange is happening. It could be really bad or really good. We’ll just have to wait and see! 1. Something bad must be happening if scientists are seeing all these changes in Jupiter’s atmosphere after only looking for a little over one year. 2. There might also be something very good about these changes because there’s always an explanation as to why things happen in nature–maybe this change is helping Jupiter save itself from an unknown threat. 3 2. Regardless of the possible outcomes, it will still take time before we can fully understand the current state of the Jovian planet and its impending fate.
