If Jupiter's big, red spot is a storm like some people have said,?

Question

...then why is it never over, and why is it always in the same location in every photo you see of Jupiter? Shouldn't it move off gradually like storms here?

Answer 1

Jupiter's atmosphere is thicker, Jupiter's magnetosphere is much larger and stronger than Earth's, and Jupiter emits more heat than it receives from the sun, so there is a lot of thermal activity lower in the atmosphere.

All that put together makes for a much MUCH more active and dynamic atmosphere than Earth's.
The Great Red Spot was first reported over 300 years ago, and while it has shrunk and grown a little over the years (and changed colour as clouds or mist form above it), it seems to be a relatively permanent feature of the atmosphere.

Its called a "storm" because it looks and behaves much like a rotating hurricane on Earth.
It could be due to a specific geological formation underneath that is causing an upwelling of volcanic or thermal gases that feed the storm. Because Jupiter is so much more active in all ways than the Earth and is so much larger than Earth, everything on Jupiter is just bigger.

It may eventually fade, but only when whatever is the cause changes or dissipates.
Storms on Earth move off and fade because they are almost always caused by simple warm air currents, and those will change as the Earth rotates.
But if the Red Spot is caused by a physical feature on Jupiter's surface then it likely won't fade soon.

Answer 2

The Great Red Spot, as it is known, has existed at least since Galileo first observed Jupiter through his telescope.
The best simile I've heard is that the spot is like a hurricane on Earth, and has been raging there for at least 300 years.
The storm rotates through Jupiter's day along with the Zonal Belt it is embedded in. The reason it appears in the same place in most photos is because it is probably Jupiter's most recognizable feature, and photo editors like that!
By the way, this storm is huge... large enough to swallow Earth's diameter 3 times!

Answer 3

The Great Red Spot is NOT associated with an underlying "surface" feature. It has drifted back and forth in longitude, including drifting several times around the whole planet. It's certainly not always in the same location. I've watched it rotate into sight, cross the central meridiamn, and rotate out of sight countless times...I've spent well over a hundred hours at the eyepiece studing Jupiter and its Red Spot over the decades.

Answer 4

The spot is believed to be a disturbance in Jupiter's atmosphere. It is probably related to conditions below it, perhaps rather like a flow of magma from an earthly volcano, but in the case of Jupiter heat or gas escaping from some anomaly in Jupiter's more massive core.

Answer 5

It doesn't stay in the same 'spot' all the time, it rotates with the planet. I can't tell you how many times I've looked at Jupiter through a telescope (at a 'random' time) and the spot wasn't there (because it was on the back side of the planet at the time).

The reason it is in the same 'spot' in each picture is because those pictures are timed so it is in the field-of-view.

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Answer 6

It probably won't last forever, but it has lasted a long time. But it does move, and change shape and color slightly too. It is much less red than it was 50 years ago. It stays at the same latitude but moves around the planet in longitude.