A storm on Jupiter is larger than the Earth
The Great Red Spot is an anticyclone observed for more than a century and a half, and for most of that time its long axis has been larger than Earth's diameter.
Established2 min read
Continuous records of the Spot run from the nineteenth century. Voyager, Hubble, and Juno have watched it in detail: a high-pressure vortex, rotating counterclockwise, fed by jet streams, coloured by chemicals that are still being argued over. At its historical width it exceeded Earth's diameter of about 12,700 kilometres.
It is shrinking. Modern measurements find it smaller than the drawings of a century ago, and it may not always remain larger than Earth. The claim is about the storm as observed across its recorded life, not a promise that it is a permanent piece of furniture.
Caveats
- Earlier sightings, by Hooke or Cassini, may or may not have been the same storm. The secure record is from the 1800s.
- 'Larger' refers to the visible oval. It is not a solid object.
Sources
- 1Simon A. A. et al.. Historical and contemporary trends in the size, drift, and color of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The Astronomical Journal 155, 2018.