Facts about Jupiter that you don't know

Jupiter is a massive, terrifying planet, and although it has been explored for centuries and even visited by nine space probes in the last 50 years, the undisputed king of the solar system has managed to keep some things hidden from us - from planetary cannibalism to the giant spots you've never seen before. Okay, you have certainly heard about Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the gigantic storm that has been raging for hundreds of years. Yes, it's incredibly large, larger than the earth, if the earth had such a storm on its surface, the earth as we know it would no longer exist.

There is a new massive storm in the city it's called the "Great Cold Spot" and this one is strange, because it's almost as big as The Great Red Spot. It is also the coldest spot in Jupiter's clouds, about 200 degrees Celsius colder than the surrounding area, hence the name. How did we miss this giant whirlwind? Jupiter's poles, and that's where the Great Cold Spot has been hiding, but I think scientists have a cooler explanation for the real reason it's not easy to observe the Great Cold Spot, because it's hiding behind Jupiter's powerful auroras. Yes the same kind of phenomenon as Northern Lights on Earth, only much, much stronger at that, unlike the Great Red Spot, which hardly changes at all, the Great Cold Spot is inconstant, it's constantly getting bigger and smaller and changing shape within weeks, even days, and scientists still don't quite understand how it came to be.

We know that the Great Red Spot is powered by Jupiter's swirling gasses, but the Great Cold Spot could also be created by auroras, and Jupiter's auroras would be a remarkable sight because they aren't exactly like those on Earth most of these particles come from Jupiter's volcanic moon IO. If the Great Cold Spot is truly formed by aurorae, it could be thousands of years old - much older than the Great Red Spot. And it's not the only mysterious spot lurking in Jupiter's deadly atmosphere. Amid the gas giant's beautiful, swirling gasses is a dark vortex with a perplexing name - the Great Abyss.

This is one of the most perplexing features that scientists have found. Let me remind you that we have sent nine probes to this giant, from Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to fly by Jupiter in 1973, to Juno, the most recent spacecraft to study the planet in depth. It took Juno 20 flybys to finally detect and map this dark center of the great abyss, and yet scientists don't know exactly what this pitch black hole is or how it was formed. I'd call it Jupiter's great black hole, but I think that name would be a little confusing. Also, the great abyss isn't like a black hole, it's the very dark center of a vortex that might be deep, but at least it wouldn't suck you in, like a black hole probably wouldn't do.

Jupiter's atmosphere is scary the gas giant is mostly hydrogen and helium but its clouds are much more dangerous than that above is all ammonia ice and once you dive deeper under the colorful patterns you'd probably find ammonium hydrosulfide crystals and in the very deep depths of the gas giant there is water ice and steam yes that's right Jupiter has no solid surface and it's scary. Jupiter is basically a cold cloud floating in space, with a large hydrogen ocean at its center, and yet it's the largest planet in the solar system, more massive than all the other planets combined, and then there are winds. Jupiter's winds are ridiculously frightening: they're strong enough to blow more than three Earth masses around the planet at the equator, they reach speeds of 540 kilometers per second, and they reach deep into the Jupiter's atmosphere, these winds could blow away Jupiter's magnetic field. Jupiter's magnetosphere is gigantic, 21 times the diameter of Jupiter itself, and no other planet in the solar system boasts a stronger magnetosphere. And as if that weren't enough, this gas giant hasn't two but three magnetic poles, one at the north pole, one at the south pole, and the third is near Jupiter's equator. It was only recently discovered by Juno and called the big blue spot. Is it just me or could Jupiter's spot names use a little variety?

Scientists have watched the gas giant's magnetic field change. Scientists have noticed how the gas giant's magnetic field changes over time, and now they think intense winds may be causing those changes That's just mind-blowing, but you know what's even more mind-blowing, it turns out Jupiter is a planetary cannibal In the early days of our solar system, the gas giant was one of the first planets to form. it really explains why it's so gigantic, but even though it's so gaseous, Jupiter has a lot of heavy elements inside of it, and thanks to Juno, we now know that this monstrous planet has about 30 Earths worth of heavy elements inside of it, and it's all because Jupiter is literally devouring other planets, okay, they're not really planets, more like planetesimals, which are clumps of dust and rock that can be hundreds of kilometers across if Jupiter didn't eat them for breakfast, these clumps could become a new planet like Mars or Earth. Imagine what it would be like to have another rocky planet in the solar system. Sure, it might have pushed Earth out of the habitable zone, or this new planet might have crashed into Earth, so we wouldn't have a chance to thrive here-similar world nearby. I wouldn't mind another planet like Kepler-22b wandering around the solar system. Put on your spacesuit and jump in your spaceship, because this is a story for another.

Thank you.