Hello, friends! My life is complicated at the moment, leaving me precious little time for writing. And yet, because I am the person I am that I am, I must write something! So this month, I’ve just been writing these quick, easy posts sharing my favorite facts about each planet of the Solar System. Today, we’re talking about my #1 favorite fact about Jupiter.
Jupiter is actually my favorite planet to look at in a telescope. Even with a small, relatively cheap telescope, you can see the major moons, and if you check up on Jupiter from night to night you’ll see how much those moons move. You can also see the texture of Jupiter’s clouds: the light and dark stripes contrasting against each other. And if you’re lucky, you might even be able to see Jupiter’s Great Red Spot—but that is getting harder and harder to do.
Astronomers first started tracking the Great Red Spot in the 1830’s. Based on notes and drawings from that time, it seems the Spot was roughly 40,000 km wide back then. By the time NASA’s Voyager probes arrived in the 1970’s, though, the Great Red Spot was much smaller. 23,000 km wide. And it continues to shrink to this day. Currently, it’s about 16,000 km wide.
The ultimate fate of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot remains unknown, but there’s a real possibility that it will disappear entirely within the next few decades. So if you ever have the chance to see Jupiter with a decently powerful telescope, do it! Your opportunity to see the Great Red Spot for yourself may be running out.
Thank you, friends, for reading. Stay tuned. My #1 favorite fact about Saturn is coming soon.
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