back to article Jupiter has the craziest storms seen yet, say boffins

Jupiter has the strangest storm behavior observed to date, with formation patterns that have never been seen elsewhere. The latest pictures taken from NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal the hidden cyclones at its poles. At the north pole, eight swirling storms circled another storm at the center, and at the south pole, another five …

  1. 45RPM Silver badge

    The Whitehouse has the craziest storms seen yet.

    FTFW.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "The Whitehouse has the craziest storms seen yet."

      You meant Stormy Daniels?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Chaos - James Gleik

    Emergent order in a massive non-linear system.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Chaos - James Gleik

      They would say that, wouldn't they?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Chaos - James Gleik

        ? As opposed to what specifically?

  3. frank ly

    Appropriate sub-heading

    There are nine circles there, so it's apt.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: Appropriate sub-heading

      Better send the Event Horizon to take a look.

  4. Bob Vistakin
    Pint

    Pepperoni to go?

    Or Hot 'n' Spicy?

  5. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    Surprised by Jupiter?

    A.C. Clark would have been laughing his socks off.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Surprised by Jupiter?

      No surprise from the god of thunder, storms and lightnings... it looks he's enjoying his role there, the Greeks got it right.

      Nature can still surprise more than sci-fi authors.

  6. lglethal Silver badge
    Happy

    The universe is awesome. Nuff said!

  7. Oengus
    Joke

    Climate change

    So even Jupiter suffers from Climate change.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: Climate change

      But are we the cause of it? That's the question.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: Climate change

        "But are we the cause of it? That's the question."

        Yeah, it was two guys called Shoemaker and Levy.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "Yeah, it was two guys called Shoemaker and Levy."

          They were three. And one wasn't a guy - Carolyn Shoemaker.

          1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

            Re: "Yeah, it was two guys called Shoemaker and Levy."

            "They were three. And one wasn't a guy - Carolyn Shoemaker."

            Oops, yes. It was a long time ago and I was posting from memory. Someone should invent a way of scouring the worlds knowledge to help mitigate against things like this. Possibly involving computers.

    2. John Smith 19 Gold badge
      Thumb Up

      So even Jupiter suffers from Climate change.

      Do we know this?

      Maybe they've been there all along and it's just been difficult to see them?

      Still impressive stuff.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Probably transient

    They're certainly interesting but I suspect that the number of vortices at each pole varies over time as new storms migrate towards the poles and old storms merge. The northern polar storm system clearly includes two smaller storms within the large central cyclone and, like the image of the southern pole, also shows several additional smaller cyclones outside the central arrangement.

    The octagonal (not octahedral, which means an eight faced solid) at the north pole actually looks closer to being a rather shonky square.

    This is not to say that they don't last for quite a long time - I'd guesstimate that they're several thousand km across and anything that size is going to maintain its identity for quite a while, but I think that describing them as being "...extraordinarily stable arrangements..." is a bit premature for something that we've only been able to observe since Juno arrived, less than two years ago.

    1. John G Imrie

      Re: Probably transient

      “Big whirls have little whirls,

      That feed on their velocity;

      And little whirls have lesser whirls,

      And so on to viscosity.”

      ― Lewis Fry Richardson

  9. James 51
    Alien

    Want to bet to start seeing that image at student poster sales?

    BTW anyone else see the eye of Sauron in the middle?

    1. Anonymous South African Coward Bronze badge

      Due to the current political situation on Earth, as well as with the masses of special snowflakes popping up all over as well, Sauron decided to move his new HO to Jupiter.

    2. Michael Thibault

      Eye of Sauron? Missed that. But what is the weasel doing there at the south end? Or is that a stoat?

      1. Eclectic Man Silver badge

        "Methinks it looks more like a weasel"

        (Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 2.)

    3. Sgt_Oddball
      Devil

      No....but it's seen you.

    4. Swarthy
      Coat

      Not the Eye of Sauron....

      But I think I see Swindon's Magic Round-about.

      1. John G Imrie
        Happy

        Re: Not the Eye of Sauron....

        I bet the Jupiter version is easier to navigate across.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "I bet the Jupiter version is easier to navigate across."

          Easier, don't know, faster, quite sure...

      2. David 132 Silver badge

        Re: Not the Eye of Sauron....

        Beat me to it. May you be banished to the wastelands of Penhill.

        But have an upvote anyway!

  10. Avatar of They
    Thumb Up

    Nice pic

    Have to say I am expecting a chapter of space marines to appear in the next photo, looks to be taken right out of Warhammer 40k.

    Or the marine from Doom to be jumping in. (depending on your take.)

  11. AS1

    Good grief, even Jupiter is advertising Dyson.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So we've finally found..

    ... where hell is!

    Next step is pope sponsers space exploration to find heaven.

    Then we can try to find this so called god/allah everyone claims exists ;-)

    Lets do this, find out once and for all what is true and what is not, or if it's all a load of smelly stuff.

    Note: I follow science, not religion.

    But with that said I'd still like to see god disproven or even proven.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: So we've finally found..

      Lets do this, find out once and for all what is true and what is not, or if it's all a load of smelly stuff.

      You can't even realiably find out if a Turing Machine will stop, now you want to have certainty in metaphysics?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So we've finally found..

        To learn more we must try to push past what we already know ;-).

        The minute you say "I don't know that, may as well stop" is when you stop progressing. So sure, we don't know. But to learn that knowledge we must push forward and attempt it anyway, regardless of how often we fail.

        Pick yourself up and try again and all that.

    2. Justin Case
      Angel

      Re: So we've finally found..

      >>Next step is pope sponsers...

      I read that first as pope sensors. Like we've given up looking for intelligent life on other planets, so now we'll settle for finding the odd extraterrestrial pontiff?

    3. onefang

      Re: So we've finally found..

      "Next step is pope sponsers space exploration to find heaven.

      "Then we can try to find this so called god/allah everyone claims exists ;-)"

      Last time people built something to get to heaven didn't end well.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Happy

        Re: So we've finally found..

        Oh you'll never get to heaven,

        In a baked bean tin.

        Cos a baked bean tin's

        Got baked beans in.

        ...

        Oh you'll never get to heaven,

        On a sheet of glass.

        Cos a sheet of glass

        Will cut your arse.

        [oh dear. It appears that once I've stuffed some lyrics into my brain, however stupid, I'm stuck with them forever.]

  13. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    Nah

    Hemel Hempstead got there first.

    GJC

    1. PK
      Coat

      Re: Nah

      ..and I thought it looked like the magic roundabout in Swindon

      1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge

        Re: Nah

        Bit of both. I tend to use the HH one in these comments because it has six orbital roundabouts rather than the five that Swindon has, and if I recall correctly they are rather more tightly packed, too.

        GJC

  14. eldakka
    Alien

    FSM has dipped his noodly appendages in to make pretty swirls like the patterns barristas make in coffee cups.

  15. Friendly Neighbourhood Coder Dan

    Frank Blackmore's work?

    Is it just me or that looks a lot like the flow of cars trying to escape from Swindon's Magic Roundabout?

  16. junglesnot

    Fake news

    Everyone knows that Jupiter is flat.

  17. Swiss Anton

    Like portals to hell

    Looks like Swindon's magic roundabout.

    1. VikiAi

      Re: Like portals to hell

      Same thing, isn't it?

  18. Martin Gregorie

    Re: So we've finally found..

    But with that said I'd still like to see god disproven or even proven.

    If we're living inside a simulation of the universe there's a good case to be made for its project manager being god, team members being the angels and the devil a team member who was sacked for insubordination or goofing off.

    1. lglethal Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: So we've finally found..

      Wouldnt the Devil in the simulation be the PHB?

      And if BOFH has taught me anything it's that the SysAdmin would be God. And not necessarily a benevolent one...

  19. Stevie

    Bah!

    God has a Spirograph?

  20. anody

    That looks like one of those British satellite traffic circles...

  21. Francis Boyle Silver badge

    Yeah

    I think there's a particularly well known one. Can't recall its name ATM. Maybe someone here can help.

    1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge

      Re: Yeah

      Hemel Hempstead and Swindon both have Magic Roundabouts, which are groups of mini roundabouts around the outside of a central one.

      GJC

      1. genghis_uk

        Re: Yeah

        Also Colchester and High Wycombe... A 70's fad that thankfully died out but, unlike flares never made a come back

  22. Omgwtfbbqtime

    Axminster?

    Must say the patterns look like the carpets in my parents first house.

  23. Gobhicks

    Reminds me ...

    ... that all of Creation is contained in the Mandelbrot Set. It MEANS something, dammit, something PROFOUND, but what exactly? Still does my head in, nearly forty years on. And as for imaginary numbers themselves...

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