New analysis of data taken by the Cassini mission during its encounter with Jupiter in 2000 reveal that exceptionally clear atmospheric 'hotspots' effectively ride up and down in the Jovian skies as they are formed by what's known as a Rossby wave - a phenomenon familiar to us here on Earth.
The authors of the study have produced such an excellent video explaining all of this that it's all you need to look at (really, it's that good). The original scientific article is by Choi et al. in the journal Icarus, with a press release here.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
Caleb A. Scharf
Caleb A. Scharf is director of astrobiology at Columbia University. He is author and co-author of more than 100 scientific research articles in astronomy and astrophysics. His work has been featured in publications such as New Scientist, Scientific American, Science News, Cosmos Magazine, Physics Today and National Geographic. For many years he wrote the Life, Unbounded blog for Scientific American.
