A large moon is lodged on the surface of Jupiter

Yeah, they're SIMILAR, that doesn't mean they're the SAME. You can go to two different places on the same island here, and have COMPLETELY different weather at the same time. It's even more extreme for other planets.

Planet: Jupiter
Size: 88,850 miles in diameter (143,000 km)
Atmospheric composition: 89.8% Hydrogen,10.2% Helium and trace gases
Rotation rate: 9 hrs 50 minutes

Planet: Saturn
Size: 75,000 miles in diameter (120,500 km)
Atmospheric composition: 96.3% Hydrogen, 3.3% Helium and trace gases
Rotation rate: 10 hrs 14 minutes

(-Stars and Planets by Ian Ridpath)

Seems like Jupiter and Saturn are similar in many ways, with the exception of a spotty southern hemisphere and the lack of a major ring system.

Yeah, and 1% of ANYTHING can make a HUGE difference in the atmospheric conditions of a planet. 1% extra water here, and you get rain. 1% less water, and you get a humid sunny day. 1% more nitrogen, and you get a temperature increase. They're similar, but they're not the same.

Originally posted by lostinspace
Seems like Jupiter and Saturn are similar in many ways, with the exception of a spotty southern hemisphere and the lack of a major ring system.

Okay, you compared three facts from the planets... Three... And that's what makes them similar? Honestly now... A little more digging would show you they're anything but "similar in many ways."

And Jupiter has been hit by just about everything you can imagine. Thanks to Jupiter we're alive today. It's sucked up a lot of the stray comets and asteroids over the billions of years the Solar System has existed. So yes, it has been "shot through with high speed projectiles" in BOTH hemispheres.

There was a show on the Science Channel I saw not too long ago on storms. One big chunk of it was on the Great Red Spot. They pretty much demonstrated how a storm of that size can last for so long. Damn, I really wish I could find it. If anyone can, it would be immensely helpful here.

The Coriolis effects that are responsible for cyclones and anti-cyclones on Earth are greatly magnified on Jupiter, which has a rotational frequency about 2 1/2 times that of Earth, but this alone would not account for the persistence and size of the Great Red Spot. There are other features similar to the Great Red Spot on the surface (note the white spots in the above images) but none are as large as the Great Red Spot.

Presumably the persistence of the Great Red Spot is related to the fact that it never comes over land, as in the case of a hurricane on Earth, and that it is driven by Jupiter's internal heat source. Computer simulations suggest that such large disturbances may be stable on Jupiter, and that stronger disturbances tend to absorb weaker ones, which may explain the size of the Great Red Spot. Furthermore, as for the clouds in general, we do not understand fully the reason for the coloring. It has been suggested that certain compounds of phosphorous are responsible for the reddish-brown hue, but this remains somewhat speculative. Thus, we understand the broad properties, but not all the detailed features of this remarkable phenomenon.

csep10.phys.utk.edu...

That is why the Great Red Spot doesn't dissipate. There's nothing for it to dissipate its force on. A hurrcane on Earth comes over land, or cold water, and loses force, but there's no land on Jupiter for it to go over and lose force against.

Additionally to what you said Zap about hurricanes they can dissapate if a front shaves them. In the case of Jupiter, there is nothing to spark those frontal boundarys, they move with rotation, etc, while frontal boundaries and wind calculate and coordinate where the clouds go. It's all upper atmospheric, which is where I see them getting the idea, however, one thing they aren't factoring is that because of the pull of Jupiter, it would be too close to the core at that point for a moon to be orbiting.

As far as his statistics, if Earth's moon is .001% off the track, it can affect Earth's weather by unbelievable proportions. It's not even something funny to think about. If your numbers were exact, then and only then would they be the same in this case. You have to realize in space, the little numbers mean big things. Space means decimals, there's not enough time to calculate pinpoint decimals on such a thing. Your statement in otherwords is biast.

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Hi,

Old time ago but interesting, only complementary en.wikipedia.org... .

And about Jupiter and Saturn similarities: www.johnpratt.com... and www.astro.washington.edu... .

brotherthebig.