First peek at weather inside Jupiter's giant red spot... and it looks like there are storms ahead
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:18 PM on 17th March 2010
Jupiter's great red spot, which is the site of an enormous that could swallow Earth twice over, has fascinated astronomers for centuries.
木星的大紅斑幾個世紀已已令天文學家著迷，它是一個巨大的地點，能吞噬地球兩次以上。
Now scientists have made their first detailed weather map of the mysterious swirling region, thanks to new ground-breaking thermal images taken by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
現在科學家已做出他們首次在神秘漩渦區域的詳細天氣圖，多謝新的突破性熱能圖像，來自歐洲南方天文台的非常大望遠鏡。
The map has linked the storm system's temperature, winds, pressure and composition with its distinctive reddish colour.
地圖已聯繫到風暴系統的溫度、風速、壓力和組成，以其獨特的紅顏色。
This infrared image shows how the red spot on Jupiter is a turbulent region. The darker the colour, the colder the area
這紅外線圖像顯示，木星上的紅點是如何的一個動盪地區；顏色愈深暗，地區愈寒冷
'This is our first detailed look inside the biggest storm of the Solar System,' says Glenn Orton, who led the team of astronomers that made the study.
'這是我們第一次仔細一看，太陽系最大的風暴的裡面，'格倫頓說，他領導那個作出研究的天文學家小組。
'We once thought the Great Red Spot was a plain old oval without much structure, but these new results show that it is, in fact, extremely complicated.'
'我們曾一度以為大紅斑是一個普通的舊橢圓，沒有太多的結構，但這些新的結果顯示它是，事實上，十分複雜。
The infrared observations reveal the reddest colour of the Great Red Spot corresponds to a warm core within the otherwise cold storm system, which has an average temperature of -160c. 紅外線觀測揭示大紅斑最紅的顏色，在相反冷凍的風暴系統內對應一個暖心，它有一平均溫度 負160度攝氏。
The images also show dark lanes at the edge of the storm where gases are descending into the deeper regions of the planet.
這些圖像還顯示，在風暴邊緣的暗巷，氣體下降到星球上更深的區域。
The observations, detailed in a paper appearing in the journal Icarus, give scientists a sense of the circulation patterns within the storm system, where winds can reach 270mph.
那些觀察，詳細列在雜誌伊卡洛斯的紙中，給科學家在風暴系統內的一種環流模式想法，在那裡風能達到每小時270哩。
Sky gazers have been observing the Great Red Spot in one form or another centuries and there have been continuous observations of its current shape for 160 years.
天空凝視者數個世紀以來已一直觀察大紅斑，以一種或另一種形式，它的目前的形狀已連續觀測160年。
It lies 22° south of Jupiter's equator and has been known to drift to the left and right.
The Red Spot has changed in size over the years. A century ago it measured 25,000miles across but it is now about half that. However, it is still incredibly stable despite turbulence, upheavals and close encounters with other anticyclones, suggesting it won't disappear any time soon.
This visible light image of Jupiter's red spot shows how we would view the region with the naked eye
這能見的木星紅點光影像圖，顯示我們如何以肉眼觀看那地區
The images have provided an unprecedented level of resolution and extended the coverage provided by Nasa's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s.
Lead author Leigh Fletcher said: 'One of the most intriguing findings shows the most intense orange-red central part of the spot is about four degrees warmer than the environment around it.
'This temperature difference might not seem like a lot, but it is enough to allow the storm circulation, usually counter-clockwise, to shift to a weak clockwise circulation in the very middle of the storm.
'Not only that, but on other parts of Jupiter, the temperature change is enough to alter wind velocities and affect cloud patterns in the belts and zones.
'Although we can speculate, we still don't know for sure which chemicals or processes are causing that deep red colour, but we do know now that it is related to changes in the environmental conditions right in the heart of the storm.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1258563/Jupiters-giant-red-spot-revealed-ESO.html
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