Jupiter is the oldest and most powerful planet in the Solar System, it is a thousand times larger than Earth, and it is almost all gas, which means that if we fell into it, we would be sinking into its layers and we would never find a solid surface.
This also means that its thick clouds cause storms and hurricanes that release a fury far greater than any that can occur on Earth.
One of them, the most characteristic of the gas giant, is the Great Red Spot.
The Great Red Spot is a giant oval of crimson clouds in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere that rotates counterclockwise around the perimeter of the oval, with wind speeds far greater than any storm on Earth.
This great storm has been monitored since 1830, but it is estimated that it has been raging for more than 350 years. It is 16,350 wide, as of April 2017, according to the latest measurements, made by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The Great Red Spot is 1.3 times wider than Earth and its roots penetrate about 300 kilometers deep into the planet’s atmosphere , 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth’s oceans.
But it has not always been this way. In the 19th century, the Great Red Spot was more than two Earths wide, and no less than an Earth and a half, as it is today. It is shrinking, and everything indicates that it will eventually disappear.
From the time NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 probes sped their way to Saturn and beyond in 1979, measurements indicate that the storm’s oval has decreased in size by a third and in height by an eighth since the Voyagers times.
How much time does the Great Red Spot have?
In an interview for Business Insider, NASA Juno mission team member and planetary scientist Glenn Orton set a timeframe of one to two decades for this storm to die out completely, though this is no more than an estimate, and We cannot be sure when we will stop being able to observe this wonder of nature.
Glenn Orton also explained in his interview the reason that a storm can last several centuries, something that can be difficult to understand a priori, since the longest storm on Earth on record was Hurricane John, which lasted 31 days. .
To begin with, you have to keep in mind that Jupiter is much larger than Earth. Their day lasts 10 hours, as opposed to 24 hours on Earth , which contributes to their different weather systems.
Specifically, Glenn Orton describes how the large blob is so durable because it is wedged between two jet streams that are moving in opposite directions.
Nothing lasts forever, and neither does it in the universe. The immensity of space-time in which we develop our civilization prevents us from realizing that we live in a universe full of movement, changes and dangers; and we have the false feeling of being frozen in a safe and comfortable space.
But it is not immutable and some any delicate change in our balance will also affect life on Earth (and who knows, maybe also make it possible in some other corner)
At the moment, we are lucky enough to coincide in time, with the progressive disappearance of one of these astronomical phenomena, and to witness the mutability of our Solar System.
