• Question: Do you think that the storm on Jupiter will continue for ever?

    Asked by buddingscientist to Adam, Catherine, Karen, Leila, Nazim on 13 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Karen Masters

      Karen Masters answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Hmm I don’t know. I don’t know too much about weather systems. I know it’s been around since the time of Galileo which is a really long time for a storm I would think….

      I’d miss it if it disappeared….

    • Photo: Adam Stevens

      Adam Stevens answered on 13 Mar 2012:

      Since we don’t know very much about the interior of Jupiter, it’s hard to say. Something with that much energy is going to go on for a very long time!

    • Photo: Nazim Bharmal

      Nazim Bharmal answered on 18 Mar 2012:

      If you mean the Red Spot then that is a enormous storm which is far larger than the Earth and we don’t really understand enough about it to make any predictions. Presumably it must end at some point, because all storms depend on energy from somewhere else: on Earth, hurricanes usually start because of warmth from the sea.

      If we could understand where the energy that powers this storm comes from then we could make a guess when it will stop. The Juno space probe, which was launched last year, is designed to study Jupiter more closely and that might give us a better idea. But it will take another 4 years to get there.

      ZZZ

    • Photo: Leila Battison

      Leila Battison answered on 19 Mar 2012:

      I sort of hope so – it would be weird to see Jupiter without its big red spot. The fact that it has stayed in the same place for so long means that its very different to the hurricanes and things that we have on earth, because they move around and lose their energy.

      I can’t wait to see what the Juno probe can tell us about Jupiter in the next 5 years!

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