Jupiter again stunned the astronomers after they found the Great Red Spot on its surface with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
The spot was unseen till now and came as a surprise to the scientists who suspected that it was caused by powerful atmospheric gravity waves.
The Great Red Spot is now being considered as the largest storm ever formed in the solar system. It is twice as big as Earth and is believed to range for at least 300 years, as per NASA.
The winds of the Great Red Spot have been recorded to blow at a speed of 270 to 425 miles per hour (430 to 680 kilometres per hour) and are nearly 3.5 times as fast as a tornado which occurs on Earth.
In a statement, team leader Henrik Melin of the University of Leicester said, “We thought this region, perhaps naively, would be really boring. It is, in fact, just as interesting as the northern lights, if not more so. Jupiter never ceases to surprise.”
Did dark matter create the mysterious spot?
A whole bunch of dark matter continues to lurk in the universe and has remained elusive to scientists.
Nearly 70 to 80 per cent of all mass is considered dark matter. That matter includes everything detected – stars, planets, black holes, dust, gas, moons, people.
Now, scientists suspect that the infrared glow in Jupiter’s atmosphere may have been produced after an interaction with the dark matter.
Charged hydrogen ions known as trihydrogen cations (H3+) are present in abundance in the area.
Watch: Earth’s days may be getting little longer: Unveiling the planet’s mysteries
Several cosmic processes can lead to the production of H3+ in the Jovian atmosphere and an interaction with dark matter can produce an excess of H3+.
Physicists Carlos Blanco of Princeton University and Stockholm University, and Rebecca Leane of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University wrote, “We point out that dark matter can produce an additional source of H3+ in planetary atmospheres.”
“This will be produced if dark matter scatters and is captured by planets, and consequently annihilates, producing ionizing radiation,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
