Jupiter is a massive,
terrifying planet.
And despite being
studied for centuries and even
visited by nine space probes
in the last 50 years,
the undisputed
king of the Solar System
has managed
to keep some things
hidden from us.
Until now.
From planetary cannibalism
to the giant spots you’ve
never seen before,
we’re going to uncover
all of Jupiter’s
dark secrets.
You’ve most definitely
heard of Jupiter's
Great Red Spot,
the gigantic storm
that's been raging
for hundreds of years.
It's freakishly big.
Like wider-than-Earth
kind of big.
If Earth ever had a storm
like that
rampaging on its
surface, well,
there would be no more
Earth as you know it.
What you might not
have heard of
is that there's
a new massive storm in town.
This one’s called the Great Cold Spot.
This one is weird.
For one, it’s
almost as large
as the Great Red Spot.
It’s also
the coldest place
in Jupiter’s clouds,
about 200 °C (360 °F)
cooler than its surroundings.
Which is how it got its name.
So how did we miss this
gargantuan hurricane?
I think we’ve just been
mesmerized by
the swirling clouds
of the gas giant
and didn’t look closely enough
at Jupiter’s poles.
And that’s exactly
where the Great Cold Spot
has been hiding.
But that’s just what I think.
Scientists have
a cooler explanation.
The real reason
why it’s not easy to observe
the Great Cold Spot
is because it’s hiding behind
Jupiter’s powerful auroras.
Yeah, the same
kind of phenomenon
as Earth’s Northern Lights.
Only many,
many times more powerful.
On top of that,
unlike the Great Red Spot,
which is not eager
to change much,
the Great Cold Spot is volatile.
It’s constantly growing
bigger, and smaller,
and bigger,
changing its shape
in a matter of weeks,
even days.
Try to keep up with that.
And scientists still don’t fully
understand how it formed.
I mean, we know that
the Great Red Spot
is powered by Jupiter’s
swirling gases.
But the Great Cold Spot
could be fueled by auroras.
And Jupiter’s auroras
would be a remarkable sight
to see.
They aren’t exactly
like the ones on Earth.
We get our space light shows
thanks to the Sun’s
solar wind.
But Jupiter’s auroras
don’t rely much on the Sun.
They appear thanks to
the charged particles inside
Jupiter’s unimaginably
huge magnetosphere.
Most of these particles
come from Jupiter’s
volcanic moon Io.
If the Great Cold Spot
is really formed by auroras,
then it might be
thousands of years old,
way older than the Great Red Spot.
And it’s not the only mysterious spot
lurking in Jupiter’s
deadly atmosphere.
Among the gas giant’s
beautiful swirling gases,
there lies a dark vortex
with an intriguing name.
The Great Abyss.
This is one of the most
baffling features scientists
discovered on Jupiter.
And let me remind you,
we've sent nine probes
to this giant.
From Pioneer 10,
the first spacecraft
to fly by Jupiter in 1973,
to Juno,
the most recent space probe
to do an in-depth study
of the planet.
It took Juno 20 passes
to finally notice
and capture
this dark center
of the Great Abyss.
And yet, scientists
don't know exactly what
this pitch-black hole is
or how it formed.
I would call it
Jupiter’s Great Black Hole,
but I guess that name
would be a little bit confusing.
Besides, the Great Abyss
isn’t anything
like a black hole.
It’s the very dark
center of a vortex.
It might run deep.
But at least it wouldn’t
suck you in like a black hole would.
Likely not.
Jupiter's atmosphere is horrifying.
The gas giant is mainly made
of hydrogen and helium.
But its clouds are
a lot more dangerous than that.
On the top,
it's all ammonia ice.
As soon as you dive deeper,
under the colorful patterns,
you'd likely encounter
ammonium hydrosulfide crystals.
And at the very deep depth
of the gas giant,
there's water ice and vapor.
That's right,
Jupiter doesn't have
a solid surface.
And it's freaky.
Jupiter is basically a frigid
cold cloud floating in space,
with a large hydrogen ocean at its center.
Yet it's the biggest planet
in the Solar System,
more massive than all
other planets combined.
Then, there are winds.
Jupiter's winds
are ridiculously scary.
They're strong enough
to blow more
than three Earths
worth of material
around the planet.
At the equator,
they go as fast
as 540 km/s (335 mph).
And deep into
Jupiter's atmosphere,
these winds might be blowing
Jupiter's magnetic field off.
Jupiter’s magnetosphere is gigantic.
It’s 21 times the diameter
of Jupiter itself.
No other planet
in the Solar System can boast
a stronger magnetosphere than Jupiter’s.
And as if that’s not enough,
this gas giant has not two
but three magnetic poles.
One at the north pole,
another one at the south pole.
And the third one
lies near Jupiter’s equator.
It was just
recently discovered by Juno
and was dubbed
the Great Blue Spot.
Is it just me,
or could Jupiter’s spot
names could use
a little variation?
Scientists have noticed
how the gas giant’s
magnetic field
changes over time.
And now they think
the intense winds
might be causing these changes.
Well, that's just mind-blowing.
You know what’s
even more stunning than that?
Turns out, Jupiter is
a planetary cannibal.
In the early days
of our Solar System,
the gas giant was one of
the first planets to form.
It really explains
why it’s so gigantic.
But despite being so gassy,
Jupiter has a lot of heavy
elements inside it.
And thanks to Juno,
we now know that
this monstrous planet
has about 30 Earths worth of
heavy elements in it.
All because Jupiter
is literally gobbling up
other planets.
OK, they’re not exactly planets,
more like planetesimals.
These are clumps of dust
and rock
that can be hundreds
of kilometers across.
If Jupiter hadn’t
eaten them for breakfast,
these clumps
could have become a new planet,
like Mars or Earth.
Just imagine
what having another
rocky planet in the Solar System
would be like.
Sure, it could’ve pushed Earth
out of the habitable zone.
Or this new planet
could’ve crashed into Earth,
leaving us without
any chance to thrive here.
But it could
also be pretty cool
if there was
another Earth-like
world nearby.
I wouldn't mind another planet
like Kepler 22-b wandering
around the Solar System.
Well, put on your spacesuit
and jump into the spaceship
because that's a story
for another WHAT IF.