Tzedek - findings from recent years

Photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014 showed that the Great Red Spot, as it is known, had shrunk from its size when visited by the Voyager spacecraft in the XNUMXs

atmosphere

On Earth, hydrogen is a transparent, colorless gas. On Jupiter it becomes what it is most strange due to the special conditions for this planet. Jupiter is a predominantly gaseous planet. As you go deeper into the atmosphere, atmospheric pressures and temperatures rise. With the descent to great depths, the hydrogen becomes liquid and then solid. It is not a clear distinction like on Earth, between water vapor, bodies of water and snow. According to one estimate, at a depth between 10,000 and 13,000 km the temperature reaches 5000 degrees and the atmospheric pressure is 2-1 million times that of the Earth. The hydrogen under these conditions takes on metallic characteristics and becomes a conductive metal. In large parts at these depths, its metallic characteristics and the self-rotation speed of Jupiter (10 hours) create a magnetic field around Jupiter that is 720 million km long, the largest in the solar system. It creates an electric field with a strength of 10 million amperes and glows at both poles (1).

Due to these conditions of Jupiter, it was suggested that the helium condenses into droplets and behaves like rain. A very strange thing indeed, a shower of helium. Initially the helium condenses into a mist in the upper layers of the atmosphere like a cloud and as the drops get bigger they descend to greater depths like a rain cloud. The helium droplets form 13 - 000 km below the top of the hydrogen clouds. Under conditions of atmospheric pressures and tremendous temperatures, the hydrogen is also in a state of liquid accumulation or in a state of transition between gas and liquid. The helium rain is mixed with neon and this is what explains the removal of helium from the upper layers of the atmosphere (10,000).

Molecules of acetylene were found in the poles. The discovery of these molecules enables an understanding of the chemical reactions between them and sunlight (3). As for the source of water in Jupiter's upper atmosphere, there were quite a few disagreements among researchers due to the lack of knowledge. The source of water in the lower layers of the atmosphere is deep within Jupiter. The source of the water in the upper layers is external to Jupiter. Several possible sources were examined. The observations showed that their distribution in the atmosphere is not homogeneous and they are mainly concentrated in the southern hemisphere. The observations made by the space telescope showed that their origin is the impact of the comet Shoemaker Levi in ​​Zedekb-1994 and that 95% of the water is from this comet, (4).

Observations from 2010 showed that the dark band had disappeared. This is the south equatorial belt. In 2009 she was seen. This disappearance has a history. One disappearance was observed in 1973 when it was photographed for the first time by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft. And the second disappearance, also temporary, was in the early 90s. White clouds developed above them in the southern hemisphere. At the same time, global changes occurred in Jupiter (5). Following the disappearance of the layer and its return, it was decided to investigate a similar phenomenon that occurred in the northern equatorial strip. Between 2011 - 2010 it was very white, a brightness not seen in 100 years. In March this year it started to darken again. Infrared observations showed a thickening of the lower layers. Infrared observations showed elongated formations in the white clouds in the bright area and they were named brown barges.

An observation was also made of a series of blue-grey formations along the southern edge of the northern strip and they looked the brightest and driest on the planet. In infrared light they were seen as hot spots. Since they revealed the exit of the radiation from a deep layer in the atmosphere. They disappeared between 2011-2010 and reappeared in June 2011 (6).
A film produced from a series of photographs taken by the Cassini spacecraft on its way to Saturn in 2000 discovered waves in the jet streams in Jupiter's atmosphere. Like the Earth, Jupiter also has jet streams, except that they are straight and narrow. What the spacecraft did in its photography was to focus on one jet stream in the southern hemisphere. When examining the film, they noticed a dark line of chevron formations in the form of the letter V formed at the end of the jet stream which moves in a west-east direction and at a later stage this formation became ripples when each chevron moves up and up - north and south. This is actually the seal of a Rossby wave. The chevrons in the fast jet stream come into contact with the slow Roseby wave and here oscillate. It also turned out that the chevrons are related to another type of wave in the atmosphere (gravity inertia waves). Investigating these waves can teach about the deep layers of the atmosphere (7).

It turned out that it is the Roseby wave that creates the hot spots, the size of each of which is the size of North America. This wave rises and falls in the atmosphere like a horse on a merry-go-round. The same film produced from the series of photographs covers a period of two months, so that it was possible to follow daily and weekly changes in the course of the atmospheric phenomena. Since the hot spots create "breaks" in the clouds, it is possible to observe deeper into the atmosphere, which under normal conditions is impossible. Since they are hotter than their surroundings, they are bright in the infrared, hence their name (8).

The red spot
Thermal observations made using powerful telescopes in the Red Spot showed swirls of warm air and previously unseen cold regions in the Red Spot, making it possible to map weather deeper in the atmosphere. It turned out that the darkness of the spot originates from a hot core inside it. The photographs also showed "lanes" at the edges of the spot, places where gases descend into deeper regions of the atmosphere. One of the most interesting findings is that the red-orange area in the center of the red spot is the hottest in the spot. 4-3 degrees higher than its surroundings, enough to allow the storm to circulate generally counter-clockwise. For the first time it can be said that there is a close connection between environmental conditions and temperatures - winds, atmospheric pressure and chemical composition - and the color of the stain. At the same time it should be noted that it is still not clear which chemicals create the dark red color of the stain (9).

Photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014 showed that the spot is smaller than thought. Its diameter is 16,000 km and it is circular. The photographs of the Voyager spacecraft showed a diameter of 25,000 km per year and it is not clear what causes this. Shrinkage is at a rate of 1000 km per year(10).

In a laboratory experiment, a combination of ammonia and noble gases (these gases are known to be found in the atmosphere) was bombarded with ultraviolet radiation in order to imitate the effect of the sun's heat on these substances found in the highest places, in the clouds found within the red spot. A reddish substance was formed which was compared to the red spot as observed by the Cassini spacecraft. In the visible light and in the infrared, it turned out that the property of the light scattering corresponds to the model according to which it is limited to the high parts of the spot. The conclusion they reached is that the origin of the stain's color is in chemical compounds that are broken down by sunlight and not in internal sources as thought until now.

It is estimated that the high altitude where the red spot is located allows the increase and darkening of the red color. The winds in their spot move ammonia ice very high in the atmosphere, where it is exposed to the sun's ultra radiation. In addition, the vorticity of the spot prevents the escape of these particles from the atmosphere (11).

Sources
1. Dauna Coulter - "A freaky fluid inside Jupiter" 10. 8. 2011
http://www. spacedaily. com/reports/A_Freaky_Fluid_Inside_Jupiter_999. html
2. "Helium rain on Jupiter explains lack of Neon in atmosphere" 23. 2. 2010
http://www. spacedaily. com/reports/Helium_Rain_On_Jupiter_Explains_Lack_Of Neon_ In_ Atmosphere_999. html
3. PIA13699 : "Acetylene around Jupiter's poles"
http://photojournal. jpl. nasa. gov/catalogPIA13699
4. "Herschel solves mystery of origin of water in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter"
23. 4. 2013
http://scitechdaily. com/herschel- solves- mystery-of- origin -of- water- in- the- upper -atmosphere-of-Jupiter
5. Shiga D. "Jupiter loses a stripe" 11. 5. 2010
http://www. newscientist/article/dn18889jupiter-loses-a-stripe. html
6. "Jupiter: Turmoil from below' battering from above" 18. 10. 2012
http://www. spacedaily. com/reports/Jupiter-Turmoil_From_Below_Battering_From _Above_999. html
7. "Cassini spies wave rattling jet stream on Jupiter" 19. 3. 2012
http://www. spacedaily. com/reports/Cassini_Spies_Wave_Rattling_Jet_Stream_On _Jupiter_999. html
8. "Hot spots ride a merry go around on Jupiter" 14. 3. 2013
http://phys-org/news/2013-03-hot-spots-ride-a-merry-go-around-on-jupiter. html
9. "See spots on Jupiter see spot glow" 17. 3. 2010
http://www. spacedaily. com/reports/See_Spots_On_Jupiter_See_Spot_Glow_999. html
10. "Klotz Irene - "Jupiter giant spot shrinking Hubble images show" 15. 5. 2014
http://uk. reuters. com/article/2014/05/15/us-space-jupiter- idUKKBNODV1620140515
11. "Jupiter red spot is likely sunburn's not a blush" 11. 11. 2014
http://saturn. jpl. nasa. gov/news/newsreleases/newsrelease20141111