Jupiter's famous red spot may actually provide the energy that heats the planet's upper atmosphere to incredibly high temperatures claims a new study.
As the largest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter is five times further away from the Sun than Earth and yet its temperatures are similar to those found above our home planet.
Until now, the non-solar source responsible for this extra heating had remained a mystery among scientists.
To shed light on the conundrum, researchers at Boston University's (BU) Centre for Space Physics looked at the infrared light emitted by Jupiter in order to measure its temperature.
The readings were taken around 500 miles (805km) above the planet's surface and showed high altitude temperatures were much greater whenever their telescope was pointed at certain locations in the planet's southern hemisphere.
"We could see almost immediately that our maximum temperatures at high altitudes were above the Great Red Spot far below - a weird coincidence or a major clue?" said Dr. James O'Donoghue, research scientist at BU, and lead author of the study.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is a persistent storm that was discovered within years of 17th Century astronomer Galileo Galilei's introduction of telescopic astronomy.
The size and colour of the giant Jovian spot has varied over time, although it covers a distance roughly three times the diameter of Earth and features winds that take around six days to complete one spin.
"The Great Red Spot is a terrific source of energy to heat the upper atmosphere at Jupiter, but we had no prior evidence of its actual effects upon observed temperatures at high altitudes," explained Dr Luke Moore, study co-author and research scientist from Boston University.
The confirmation of exactly how the spot acts as a major heat source could have implications for other distant planets as well as giant exoplanets outside of our solar system, potentially explaining how they have such high temperatures despite being so far away from the Sun or the star they orbit.
"Energy transfer to the upper atmosphere from below has been simulated for planetary atmospheres, but not yet backed up by observations," explained Dr O'Donoghue.
"The extremely high temperatures observed above the storm appear to be the 'smoking gun' of this energy transfer, indicating that planet-wide heating is a plausible explanation for the 'energy crisis."
The study was published in the journal Nature and was based on findings funded by Nasa analysed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Leicester.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
