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Jupiter’s third red spot gobbled up by the big one |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Sunday, 20 July 2008
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 (From July 17, 2008) Just two months ago, we told you about a third Earth-sized red storm (Mini-Red) that had cropped up near Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. There were three options as the two storms converged: Mini-Red would either be eaten, destroyed, or move on intact. As it would turn out, the smaller storm was quickly gobbled up by the Great Red Spot, which is about six times larger.
As Mini-Red caught up with Great Red, it was swept up and consumed in a matter of days. Mini-Red had only been around for a few months, compared to the centuries that Great Red has been circling Jupiter. Astrophysical meteorologists have suggested that this eating of smaller storms (and thus absorbing their energy) is how the Great Red Spot has lasted as long as it has.
A small remnant of Mini-Red appears to have survived the encounter. Part of the storm has been spotted carrying on ahead of the Great Red Spot. Whether this scrap of Mini-Red will survive or just be swept apart by Jupiter’s powerful winds remains to be seen.
Passing at near the same time was Red Spot Jr., which has lasted for several years and survived numerous encounters with the Great Red Spot. Red Spot Jr has been around for long enough that it’s established an extensive outside atmospheric barrier that will prevent it from being eaten by it’s bigger older brother.
There are notable differences between the two, but scientists have no basis for comparison. Even if the Hubble Space Telescope were to take a chemical reading of the two storms’ cloud tops, we would need a laboratory here on Earth capable of creating similar temperatures and atmospheric pressures. It is theorized that the reddish color is caused by material containing phosphorus, sulfur, or hydrocarbons being dredged up from deep inside Jupiter.
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