As Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter in 1979, it captured the planet’s most obvious visible feature; the Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic (high- pressure) storm that can be likened to the worst hurricanes on Earth. Cyclones develop due to the Coriolis effect where the lower latitudes travel faster than the higher latitudes producing a net spin on a pressure zone. The detailed structure in Jupiter’s atmosphere is dominated by physics known as fluid mechanics. Note that the atmosphere of Jupiter is so dense and cold that it behaves as a fluid rather than a gas. On Earth, the energy to power our storm systems comes from sunlight. Jupiter is too far from the Sun and receives very little energy. The energy needed to power all the turbulence in Jupiter’s atmosphere comes from heat released from the planet’s core.
Credit: James Schombert, NASA/JPL
via Tumblr http://ift.tt/1rA1q07 August 15, 2014 at 02:29PM
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