NASA probe grazes Jupiter's clouds in brush with Great Red Spot

[webfact]

NASA probe grazes Jupiter's clouds in brush with Great Red Spot

By Steve Gorman

 

NASA's Juno spacecraft in orbit above Jupiter's Great Red Spot is seen in this undated handout illustration obtained by Reuters July 11, 2017. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Handout via REUTERS

 

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A NASA spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter began transmitting data and images on Tuesday from humanity's closest brush with the Great Red Spot, a flyby of the colossal, crimson storm that has fascinated Earthbound observers for hundreds of years.

 

The Juno probe logged its close encounter with Jupiter's most distinctive feature on Monday evening Pacific time as it passed about 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometres) above the clouds of the mammoth cyclone.

 

But it will take days for readings captured by Juno's array of cameras and other instruments to be delivered to scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, and much longer still for the data to be analysed.

 

Scientists hope the exercise will help unlock such mysteries as what forces are driving the storm, how long it has existed, how deeply it penetrates the planet's lower atmosphere and why it appears to be gradually dissipating.

 

Astronomers also believe a greater understanding of the Great Red Spot may yield clues to the structure, mechanics and formation of Jupiter as a whole.

 

"This is a storm bigger than the entire Earth. It's been there for hundreds of years. We want to know what makes it tick," said Steve Levin, the lead project scientist for the Juno mission at JPL.

 

Levin said the storm is believed to be powered by energy oozing from Jupiter's interior combined with rotation of the planet, but the precise inner workings are unknown.

 

Some of the most valuable data from Monday's flyby is expected to come from an instrument designed to peer into the red spot at six different depths, Levin said.

 

The churning cyclone ranks as the largest known storm in the solar system, measuring about 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in diameter with winds clocked at hundreds of miles (km) an hour around its outer edges. It appears as a deep, red orb surrounded by layers of pale yellow, orange and white.

 

The red spot has been continuously monitored from Earth since about 1830, though observations believed to have been of the same feature date back more than 350 years.

 

Once wide enough to swallow three Earth-sized planets, the famed Jovian weather system has been shrinking for the past 100 years and may eventually disappear altogether.

 

Still, the spot remains the most prominent characteristic of the solar system's largest planet, a gargantuan ball of gas -- mostly hydrogen and helium -- 11 times the diameter of Earth with more than twice as much mass as all the other planets combined.

 

Monday's encounter with the Great Red Spot was the latest of 12 flyby missions currently scheduled by NASA for Juno, which is to make its next close approach to Jupiter's cloud tops on Sept. 1.

 

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-12

[boomerangutang]

I like this for several reasons, not least, it takes focus away from the Trump storm that continues churning.

On a philosophical level, I've studied, the world's religions, plus metaphysics in its myriad manifestations, and am comfortably relaxed in believing in NATURE AND SCIENCE.  Each day that passes, provides more proof of the paucity of religion and metaphysics, and Thai Buddhism is included in that murky mix.

 

Also:  people like to bash the USA, but consider this:  US taxpayers fund space programs which offer incredible data and photos of space.   ALL THAT DATA IS PROVIDED FREE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD - to anyone who wants to marvel at the photos.   Not only Hubble and all the amazing space probes, ....but also GPS is provided free to the world.   Let's give credit where credit is due.    

[Rancid]

3 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

I like this for several reasons, not least, it takes focus away from the Trump storm that continues churning.

On a philosophical level, I've studied, the world's religions, plus metaphysics in its myriad manifestations, and am comfortably relaxed in believing in NATURE AND SCIENCE.  Each day that passes, provides more proof of the paucity of religion and metaphysics, and Thai Buddhism is included in that murky mix.

 

Also:  people like to bash the USA, but consider this:  US taxpayers fund space programs which offer incredible data and photos of space.   ALL THAT DATA IS PROVIDED FREE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD - to anyone who wants to marvel at the photos.   Not only Hubble and all the amazing space probes, ....but also GPS is provided free to the world.   Let's give credit where credit is due.    

People don't bash the USA as such, just the government's war mongering. But yes, flying all that way for those photos is a brilliant technological achievement, sometimes we just take these things too much for granted.

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

The universe and science are amazing.

Imagine how much more advanced science would be if religion didn't stifle science for hundreds of years.

Whats even more amazing in this day and age, is how many wack jobs still dismiss science based on nothing more than their ideology. 

I lose more faith and hope in humanity every single day. 

[canuckamuck]

8 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

I like this for several reasons, not least, it takes focus away from the Trump storm that continues churning.

 

Well it had a chance but then you put him in. 

[jaggiss]

Absolutely fascinating. Well done!!

Sent from my SM-G930F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[boomerangutang]

If country leaders were less paranoid, and military honchos were less involved in controlling governments (as is happening in Thailand), there could be a lot more space exploration - both manned and robotic.

 

If half of all military expenditure were split between improving education, and space exploration - imagine......

 

There was a fascinating program developed in the 1950's and 60's called 'The Orion Project.'  It was developing space propulsion powered by nuclear bombs.  It was nixed by prez Kennedy, because he though it would be a platform for military to control the upper atmosphere.  I think Orion was a great idea.  It's not too different than an internal combustion engine, in that a series of explosions is at its core.  I'm not in favor of nukes or nuclear power on Earth, but as a means to power a spacecraft, it's fascinating.

 

 

[boomerangutang]

added details of the Juno mission on this well-made, inspiring video......

 

 

It's heartening to see good people doing their jobs well, and enjoying it.  It's the opposite of what's going on in the WH now.

[attrayant]

I remember a quote from Carl Sagan back in the early 90s, remaking that the cost of the space program was something like a penny per world explored, per person (on the Earth).  Considering all the scientific knowledge and advancements that have come out of the space program, that is an incredible return for such a tiny investment.