The ruddy color of Jupiters Great Red Spot is likely a product of simple chemicals being broken apart by sunlight in the planets upper atmosphere, according to a new analysis of data from NASAs Cassini mission. The results contradict the other leading theory for the origin of the spots striking color -- that the reddish chemicals come from beneath Jupiters clouds. Researchers arrived at their conclusions using a combination of data from Cassinis December 2000 Jupiter flyby and laboratory experiments. In the lab, the researchers blasted ammonia and acetylene gases -- chemicals known to exist on Jupiter -- with ultraviolet light, to simulate the suns effects on these materials at the extreme heights of clouds in the Great Red Spot. This produced a reddish material, which the team compared to the Great Red Spot as observed by Cassinis Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). They found that the light-scattering properties of their red concoction nicely matched a model of the Great Red Spot in which the red-colored material is confined to the uppermost reaches of the giant cyclone-like feature. A coloring agent confined to the top of the clouds would be inconsistent with the competing theory, which posits that the spots red color is due to upwelling chemicals formed deep beneath the visible cloud layers, he said. If red material were being transported from below, it should be present at other altitudes as well, which would make the red spot redder still. The Great Red Spot is a long-lived feature in Jupiters atmosphere that is as wide as two earths. Jupiter possesses three main cloud layers, which occupy specific altitudes in its skies; from highest to lowest they are: ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water clouds.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 12:46:49 +0000
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