Jupiter’s defining feature — its “Great Red Spot” — is helping to keep parts of the distant planet warm, according to astronomers. ADVERTISING Jupiter’s defining feature — its “Great Red Spot” — is helping to keep parts of the distant
Jupiter’s defining feature — its “Great Red Spot” — is helping to keep parts of the distant planet warm, according to astronomers.
Scientists using NASA’s Infrared Telescope atop Mauna Kea discovered that the spot, really a massive storm twice as wide as Earth, may be responsible for heating Jupiter’s upper atmosphere to levels that can’t be explained by solar radiation.
Jupiter is five times more distant from the sun than Earth, yet its atmosphere at the mid- to low-latitudes are hundreds of degrees warmer than they should be with temperatures comparable to those found on Earth.
The researchers from Boston University used infrared images taken from the Hawaii telescope to study the planet’s heat distribution.
They concluded the heat must come from below.
The study is published in Nature.
