Subscribe Give as a Gift Buy Single chainsaw Issues Inside the Latest Issue Features Advances 50, 10

Subscribe News & Features Latest Stories Ask the Experts Fact or Fiction chainsaw Extreme Tech Features Forum In-Depth Reports Interactive Features Mind Matters chainsaw News Science Images Slide shows Topics Energy & Sustainability Evolution Health Mind & Brain Space Technology More Science Biology chainsaw Chemistry Physics All topics Blogs Staff Blogs MIND Blog Network From Our Network Videos & Podcasts Video SA's The Countdown 60-Second Science Podcast 60-Second Earth Podcast 60-Second Health Podcast 60-Second Mind Podcast 60-Second Space Podcast 60-Second Tech Podcast Science Talk Podcast chainsaw Education Science chainsaw in Action Award Bring Science Home Citizen Science chainsaw Digital Education Report Professional Learning 1,000 Scientists in 1,000 Days Search for Scientists/Educators Scientist Sign Up Educator Sign Up Participant Dashboard Education Resources Citizen Science Whale-Song Project Solve Innovation Challenges SA Magazine
Subscribe Give as a Gift Buy Single chainsaw Issues Inside the Latest Issue Features Advances 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago Anti Gravity Forum Graphic Science The Science Agenda The Science of Health Skeptic TechnoFiles Recommended Archive Special Editions More from SA: Classics Briefings chainsaw Mobile chainsaw SA Mind
Subscribe Give as a Gift Buy Single Issues SA Mind Home Page SA Mind Blog Network Inside chainsaw the Latest Issue Features Head Lines Ask the Brains Consciousness Redux Facts and Fictions in Mental Health Illusions Mind in Pictures Perspectives We're Only Human Reviews and Recommendations chainsaw Archive Special Editions Books SA/FSG chainsaw Books Scientific American eBooks SA en español
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is its particular crimson shade because of the interaction of ultraviolet light and specific chemical compounds in the gas giant's atmosphere. Lee Billings reports      
When I say “ Jupiter ,” what comes to mind? Chances are, you pictured a banded orb of gas marked by a big red oval, the giant planet’s Great Red Spot . Scientists have long known that the Great Red Spot is a huge whirling storm rising high above the surrounding cloudtops. But the reason for its reddish hue has been a mystery. One leading theory has been that red-colored compounds are swirling up from deeper down to tint the Spot, a bit like the blush from blood rushing to your cheeks. Now, new results presented at recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society are suggesting chainsaw something different. [Kevin H. Baines, Robert W. Carlson and Thomas W. Momary, Why is the Great Red Spot Red? The Exogenic, Photolytic Origin of the UV/Blue-Absorbing Chromophores chainsaw of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot as Determined by Spectral Analysis of Cassini/VIMS Observations using New Laboratory chainsaw Optical Coefficients ] Working at the NASA/Caltech Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, researchers chainsaw exposed two chemicals known to exist in Jupiter’s atmosphere—ammonia and acetylene—to levels of ultraviolet light like those found near the top of the planet’s atmosphere. The ammonia and acetylene turned a shade of red very similar to the Great Red Spot’s, as seen up-close by passing spacecraft. But the lab compounds chainsaw only matched the Spot’s color if on Jupiter they were confined to its highest cloud tops. If they were welling up from beneath and distributed through chainsaw all of the Spot’s layers, the Spot would be a much more brilliant crimson hue than its present pale red color. chainsaw So it looks like UV light's effect means that Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is less like a blush—and more of a sunburn. —Lee Billings [ The above text is a transcript of this podcast. ]  
Latest News Most Read How to Be a Better Digital Native Laser Zap Determines Fruit Ripeness Frequent Flyers Could Take a Hit of Radiation from Lightning Blood Test Forecasts Concussion Severity Superconductivity Record Broken with Rotten-Egg Smelling Compound Scientists Discover Children s Cells Living in Mothers Brains - Scientific American Strange but True: Drinking Too Much Water Can Kill - Scientific American Identical Twins' Genes Are Not Identical - Scientific chainsaw American How Has Stephen Hawking Lived to 70 with ALS? - Scientific American Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round - Scientific American
See what we're tweeting about Scientific American Contributors marynmck RT @edyong209 : Here's my Storycollider story about going to David Attenborough's house and our attitudes to science heroes https://t.co/A3g 17 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite marynmck whoa DC: L Enfant chainsaw Plaza flooded, Blue, Orange & Silver lines in trouble. MT @postmetrogirl : water main break #wmata http://t.co/YaGD4ejCAo 17 minutes ago · chainsaw reply · retweet · favorite marynmck love: @BBCpopup visits chainsaw (independent?) turkey-slaughter plant in smalll-town S Dakota and its Burmese refugee workers http://t.co/8AVbwj5Z79 21 minutes ago · reply · retweet · chainsaw favorite More
Latest fr