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Jupiter's Hot Spots |
Jupiter's Hot Spots
Jupiter's atmosphere consists of about 81 percent hydrogen and 18 percent helium. If Jupiter had been between fifty and a hundred times more massive, it might have evolved into a star rather than a planet. Our solar system could have been a binary star system, meaning that we would have two suns. Besides hydrogen and helium, small amounts of methane, ammonia, phosphorus, water vapor, and various hydrocarbons have been found in Jupiter's atmosphere.
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Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Jupiter's atmosphere displays alternating patterns of dark belts and light zones. The locations and sizes of the belts and zones change gradually with time. Within these belts and zones are storm systems that have raged for years. One of these giant storms, called the "Great Red Spot," has lasted over 300 years. This spot rotates once counter-clockwise every 6 days. Since it is in the southern hemisphere of the planet, this rotational direction indicates it is a high-pressure zone, unlike Earth's cyclones, which are low-pressure zones. |
The Great Red Spot |
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Motion in Jupiter's
Atmospheric Vortices |
The Winds of Jupiter
Jupiter is swept by about a dozen different streams of prevailing winds, reaching 150 meters per second (335 miles per hour) at the equator. On Earth, winds are driven by the large difference in temperature, more than 40 degrees Celsius (about 100 degrees Fahrenheit), between the poles and the equator. But, Jupiter's pole and equator share the same temperature, –130 degrees Celsius (about –200 degrees Fahrenheit), at least near the cloud tops. What then drives the winds on Jupiter? |
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