My Muisings

The largest and most powerful hurricanes ever recorded on Earth spanned over 1,000 miles across with winds gusting up to around 200 mph. That’s wide enough to stretch across nearly all U.S. states east of Texas. But even that kind of storm is dwarfed by the Great Red Spot, a gigantic storm in Jupiter. There, gigantic means twice as wide as Earth.

With tumultuous winds peaking at about 400 mph, the Great Red Spot has been swirling wildly over Jupiter’s skies for the past 150 years—maybe even much longer than that. While people saw a big spot in Jupiter as early as they started stargazing through telescopes in the 1600s, it is still unclear whether they were looking at a different storm. Today, scientists know the Great Red Spot is there and it’s been there for a while, but they still struggle to learn what causes its swirl of reddish hues.

" The Moon " //© Zubuyer Kaolin

" The Secrets of Planet Rotation and Tilt " //© astro.voyagers

Planet’s “rotation” refers to its spinning motion about its own axis. One full rotation around equals 1 full day on that particular planet. Each planet has its own rotation time speed and the length of a day on each planet is noted on screen. Jupiter has the quickest day which is ~ 9 hours and 55 minutes long. Venus has the longest day which is an astonishing 243 EARTH DAYS and 26 minutes long!! That’s DAYS and not HOURS!! In other words Venus rotates VERY slowly. KEY TO REMEMBER: 🔑 Jupiter spins very quickly. 🔑 Venus spins very slowly. TIMES TO REMEMBER: Approximate day length of each planet (from shortest to longest): Jupiter: 9 hours, 55 minutes. Saturn: 10 hours, 33 minutes. Neptune: 16 hours. Uranus: 17 hours, 14 minutes. Earth: 23 hours, 56 minutes. Mars: 24 hours, 36 minutes. Mercury: 58 EARTH days, 16 hours. Venus: 243 EARTH days, 26 minutes. Mercury has a scorching daytime temperature and a freezing nighttime chill due to its lack of atmosphere. Venus experiences extreme greenhouse effect, making it the hottest planet despite being the second from the Sun. Earth’s axial tilt gives us seasons, shaping the world’s climate and ecosystems. Mars’ tilt creates dramatic climate variations, including polar ice caps and dusty storms. Jupiter’s rapid rotation creates its iconic bands of clouds and the Great Red Spot, a giant storm. Saturn’s tilt gives us stunning views of its magnificent ring system. Uranus’ peculiar tilt may have been caused by a massive collision in its distant past.