Moon and Jupiter

Hurricane season is whirling to life in the northern hemisphere. The giant storms twirl across the ocean, developing deadly winds, rains, and storm surges. As they grow, they trace a familiar pattern – cloud bands spinning counter-clockwise around the central eye. That spin is a result of the Coriolis effect. It’s caused by a combination of Earth’s rotation and its shape. Because Earth is a sphere, locations on the equator move more than 24,000 miles in 24 hours. Locations off the equator move a much smaller distance in the same time. So, as a storm moves across the northern hemisphere, its southern edge moves faster than its northern edge. This causes the storm to rotate counter-clockwise. The Coriolis effect is much more pronounced on the giant worlds of the outer solar system – especially Jupiter. It’s the biggest planet, and it has the fastest rotation – one turn in less than 10 hours. That combination deflects what normally would be north-south winds into east-west winds. They can blow at hundreds of miles per hour. They separate Jupiter’s atmosphere into wide bands. Individual storms – some the size of continents or bigger – spin through the bands, or along their boundaries – monster storms spinning through alien skies. Jupiter stands to the upper left of the Moon this evening. It looks like a brilliant star. The twins of Gemini are above the Moon, and we’ll have more about them tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield