The Energy source for the Great Red Spot of Jupiter

The most powerful storm structures on Earth are Hurricanes. Typically, 30 of these great swirling distributors of energy form across the oceans every year. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is a storm large enough to swallow the entire Earth and it has been raging almost continuously for well over 300 years. Where does the energy come from to drive not only the Great Red Spot of Jupiter but also the storms that rage across Jupiter’s entire planet?

If the expansion of space includes matter itself, as proposed by the Uniform expansion of space theory, (www.uniformexpanson.com) then Jupiter actually began life as a red dwarf star. The residual heat and nuclear products found with in the core of the planet is what is proposed to be the source of energy for Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter was first discovered by Gian Domenico Cassini in 1664 (L'Astronomie (ISSN 0004-6302), vol. 99, Sept. 1985, p. 375-385. In French) It was the first observation of any feature on any planet, other than our own. It is the most prominent feature of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere.

A large hurricane storm on the Earth can be as much as 300 miles or 500 km across. The Great Red Spot of Jupiter is 8,000 miles or 13,000 km across; and that is at its narrowest, parallel to the equator it is two to three times larger. The upper and lower boundary of the storm moves at 100 km/hour (60 miles/hour) and the left and right boundaries moves at 430 kilometers per hour (270 miles and hour).

Picture - ( http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960827.html )
More pictures -. http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/jupiter/grs.html .
And more pictures ( http://www.the-planet-jupiter.com/ju...-pictures.html ).
(Also ( http://www.space.com/ ) has links to most topics)

Hurricanes are in a way opposite to the Great Red Spot of Jupiter. Hurricanes are associated with relatively low atmospheric pressures, while the Great Red Spot of Jupiter has a relative high atmospheric pressure. The reason for the opposite nature of anti-hurricanes and hurricanes is because of the proportional size and distribution of the source of energy relative to the size of the atmosphere that is absorbing the energy. The energy source for hurricanes is distributed over a vast area. The energy source for Anticyclones (or (anti hurricanes) is from a comparatively small location.

I remember my first exposure to an anticyclone. I was burning a big pile of leaves, back when it was still considered ok to do so. As the hot gasses from the burning leaves rose, a vortex structure formed. While overall there is an increase in atmospheric pressure above the flames, the swirling gas causes a pressure drop with in the core of the rapidly spinning vortex. Burning leaves were sucked up and mixed with hot air creating a miniature tornado of fire. The flames rose from a 3-foot height, to a 20-foot height in a matter of moments. Luckily winds were calm and the ground was moist from past rains so the neighborhood did not burn down.

Since the Great Red Spot of Jupiter is an anti cyclone, the source of the heat must be comparatively small. Although for a planet the size of Jupiter, a small source may be the size of Earth. This also requires the source to be centrally located within the core of the planet since it is the only way to have a stable localized structure within a rapidly rotating, mostly gaseous or liquid, planet. Why is the core of the planet so hot?

There are several different models that have been presented in the past to explain the energy source for the observed atmospheric disturbances. Some of the possible sources of this energy include:

1. Gravitational collapse. As a planet forms, the material falling to the planet transfers kinetic energy to the core thereby creating a hot core.
2. Trapped thermal energy. Matter in the early universe was very hot, and as gas collected around the hot core, the thick atmosphere would slow the rate of energy loss.
3. Continued Gravitational collapse. If the atmosphere is still collapsing then a continued source of energy is possible.
4. Nuclear reactions in the core
5. Gravity waves ( This is best left to be explained by referring to the source “Gravity Wave Heating and Cooling in Jupiter’s Thermosphere”, by Hickey, M , Walterscheid, R and Schubert, G.))
6. Phase transitions. As a gas condenses, heat is liberated. Various liquids may form under specific conditions.
7. Chemical reactions.
8. Tidal influences with moons.


I am sure that there are more models explaining the energy that drives the turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter, this list was quickly scanned out of the Nasa funded site http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html Based simply on the number of possible explanations, it is obvious that the field is ripe for speculation, which is an opportunity to apply the proposed uniform expansion theory.

One of my criticisms I have of the present explanations listed above is that they tend to assume that the energy output from Jupiter is fairly flat or even intermittent. If the energy of Jupiter’s atmosphere conformed to a non-linear relationship that was dramatically greater in the past, then all the proposed explanations above fall short. This is a more reasonable assumption since the rate of energy transfer is dependant upon the temperature differential. How did the center of Jupiter get so hot?

If the atmosphere of Jupiter was even more turbulent in the past, then the source of energy must be intense, more than what could occur from just gravitational collapse. The uniform expansion theory proposes that what drives the great red spot is a reservoir of heat that was formed early in the development of the planet when it almost became a star.

Asserting that Jupiter could have almost been a star is an outrageous proposal; Jupiter has nowhere near enough mass to even come close to becoming a star. The smallest possible star is a red dwarf star, which is believed to have a mass equivalent to 1/4 to 1/10 th the volume of our sun. Jupiter would need to be over 100 times more massive than it is now to have 1/10 th the mass of our sun.

(Based on a chart from Stars Their Birth, Life and Death by Iosif S. Shklovskii it is possible to show the energy output based on today's effect of gravity (or if you wish, today's current gravitational constant) for various sized stars. This HR diagram shows that stars with a solar mass of about 0.25, form red dwarfs. Some estimates place red dwarfs with as little mass as .1 solar masses.)

The effect of gravity is a function of time according to the proposed theory. Would this effect cause Jupiter to have enough mass to become a red dwarf star?


If Jupiter formed when the Universe was 1 billion years old, 5.5 billion years ago in a 6.5 billion year old universe, we have the following proposed increased gravitational effect. (I know that 6.5 is no where near what is accepted as the age of the universe, but in the proposed model the expansion was faster in the past, which decreases the age of the universe from the presently accepted linear relationship).

Increase in the gravitational constant.
"G1/G2" = 1/(T1/T2) ^(4/3)
"G1/G2" = 1/((1.)/6.5) ^(4/3) = 12.1 times


This is not enough of an increase for Jupiter to become a red dwarf star, we are short by a factor of 10.
There are a few ways to address this shortfall. They are to:
1. Assume the date of formation is earlier
2. Assume that the uniform expansion also has an effect on mass itself.
3. Assume that the initial collapse occurred more quickly due to the increased gravitational effects, which resulted in a significant increase in heat of formation.



1. Earlier date of formation

If the date of formation was earlier, significant increases in the effect of gravity result. The following increases are realized when considering a planet date of formation of 500,000 million and 1 million years from the beginning of time.
"G1/G2" = 1/(T1/T2) ^(4/3)
"G1/G2" = 1/((.5)/6.5) ^(4/3) = 30.6 times
"G1/G2" = 1/((.1/6.5) ^(4/3) = 261 times

If Jupiter formed earlier, there is no problem for the present mass of Jupiter to be enough to become a red dwarf star.

This early formation may be unreasonable, particularly since the evidence based upon nuclear dating tends to indicate a formation of something a little less than 1 billion years, not 1 million years. Also the intense heat found within a universe 1 million years old would tend to inhibit the clumping of matter.

2. Increased effect of mass

Another factor to consider is the increased effect of mass predicted by the uniform expansion of space. Since it is proposed that part of the expansion includes motion in an unobserved dimension, which causes the effect associated with mass, then objects in the past were actually more massive. Since the relationships are proposed to define a unifying structure, then mass itself is altered by the same relationship observed with the gravitational constant.

"G1/G2" = 1/(T1/T2) ^(4/3)
"G1/G2" = 1/((1.)/6.5) ^(4/3) = 12.1 times
The effect of mass is increased 12 times and the effect of gravity is also increased 12 times. In terms of today’s relationships, it is as if Jupiter were 140 times more massive in the past than today. This now meets today’s standard for initiating nuclear fusion. Jupiter could have been a red dwarf star.

3. Increased heat of formation.

Since the effect of gravity, (and mass) is proposed to be greater in the past, the resultant heat that is formed as matter falls into the planet is intense. This also dramatically increases the core temperature of proto-planets, which decreases the need for extra mass to initiate nuclear fusion.

While this is not a detailed analysis, the relationships do substantiate the possibility that Jupiter begin life not as a cold planet, but as a star.

The next posting will be a model that explains the energy output from quasars without resorting to black holes.

If there is some flaw or concern the proposed theory causes you, please let me know. Eventually I hope I will be able to convince a few people that it is more reasonable to assume that the expansion of space is a uniform property of the universe that does not stop at the boundary of galaxies, but includes matter itself.

Thankfully yours
snowflake