Jupiter's Great Dark Spot

Posted by chrisd on Wednesday March 12, 2003 @07:08PM from the places-to-visit-on-vacation dept.

Edball writes "For more than a century astronomers thought that the Great Red Spot was the biggest thing on Jupiter. Not anymore. Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed something at least as large, The Great Dark Spot." In related solar system news, pajamacore writes "Space.com reports that the first extrasolar planet to have its atmosphere detected is having its gas envelope boiled off by heat and blown away by tidal forces. At present, the planet is 70% the size of Jupiter but its orbit is closer to its parent star than Mercury's is to our own Sun. It should be a treat to eventually see the planet's core and maybe it'll clue us in a bit to gas giant formation."

1 of 195 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:A moon hit the planet by Anonymous Coward · 2003-03-12 20:47 · Score: 5, Informative

Yeah right. Learn some basic astronomy. Underneath the outer atmosphere is liquid metallic hydrogen. What does that mean? There is no true surface, and disturbance would quickly be smoothed over. Yes, many have theorized that there may be a small rocky core underneath it all, but it is insignificant compared to the the rest. I seriously doubt there'd be any surface features there, and even if there was, why would it reflect itself through such a dynamic atmosphere? I think not.