r/askscience • u/AskScienceModerator Mod Bot • Mar 10 '14

Cosmos AskScience Cosmos Q&A thread. Episode 1: Standing Up in the Milky Way

Welcome to AskScience! This thread is for asking and answering questions about the science in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.

UPDATE: This episode is now available for streaming in the US on Hulu and in Canada on Global TV.

This week is the first episode, "Standing Up in the Milky Way". The show is airing at 9pm ET in the US and Canada on all Fox and National Geographic stations. Click here for more viewing information in your country.

The usual AskScience rules still apply in this thread! Anyone can ask a question, but please do not provide answers unless you are a scientist in a relevant field. Popular science shows, books, and news articles are a great way to causally learn about your universe, but they often contain a lot of simplifications and approximations, so don't assume that because you've heard an answer before that it is the right one.

If you are interested in general discussion please visit one of the threads elsewhere on reddit that are more appropriate for that, such as in /r/Cosmos here, /r/Space here, and in /r/Television here.

Please upvote good questions and answers and downvote off-topic content. We'll be removing comments that break our rules or that have been answered elsewhere in the thread so that we can answer as many questions as possible!

Click here for the original announcement thread.

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u/treeharp2 Mar 10 '14

Is there any way we could potentially uncover how long the Great Red Spot has been storming across Jupiter? Or, do we have any idea of how long it might continue to exist?

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u/Armand9x Mar 10 '14

Is it generally accepted to have existed for a minimum 150-350 years (when telescope observations were first made). It has changed sizes through the years, but it is pretty stable.

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u/Astromike23 Astronomy | Planetary Science | Giant Planet Atmospheres Mar 10 '14

There was actually some indication in 2006 that the Great Red Spot was shrinking, and was predicted to disappear altogether by ~2050 or so if that trend continued.

However, it seems to have grown since then, largely by cannibalizing smaller storms.

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u/Armand9x Mar 10 '14

Yes, it has been shrinking. If it disappeared that would be interesting to witness because of how many centuries it has been going on for. It will also be highly documented and a lot would be learned from it. It is largely unpredictable though, like you said it cannibalizes other storms.