North North Temperate Zone Little Red Spot
On July 11, the Juno spacecraft once again swung near the turbulent Jovian cloud tops. On its seventh orbital closest approach this perijove passage brought Juno within 3,500 kilometers of the Solar System's largest planetary atmosphere. Near perijove the rotating JunoCam was able to record this stunning, clear view of one of Jupiter's signature vortices.
About 8,000 kilometers in diameter, the anticyclonic storm system was spotted in Jupiter's North North Temperate Zone in the 1990s. That makes it about half the size of an older and better known Jovian anticyclone, the Great Red Spot, but only a little smaller than planet Earth. At times taking on reddish hues, the enormous storm system is fondly known as a North North Temperate Zone Little Red Spot.
Image & info via APOD
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS;
Processing: Gerald Eichstadt, Damian Peach
#universe #nasa #space #science #Juno #Jupiter
It may be interesting for readers to explain what is an anticyclonic storm: it's the exact opposite of the cyclonic storms based on depressions.
ReplyDeleteIn an anticyclonic storm, the fastest winds are on the edges and the speeds are decreasing towards the center until stagnation:: the winds are blowing spirally outward from the central region of high pressure in a direction contrary to that of a cyclonic storm.
On Jupiter, for the Great Red Spot and certainly this other featuring storm, a thermal depression beneath the visible top of the clouds generates a rise of very hot air: the depression diminishes when one gains in height, until inverting and finally protruding in an anticyclone.
On Earth, anticyclonic storms, as high-pressure systems, usually accompany cold weather and are frequently a factor in large snowstorms.
Like a blue eye...
ReplyDelete