Tracking Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Summer 2018 - Megan Longstaff, Dr. Katrina Hay, Dr. Sean O'Neill

Jupiter's atmosphere is subject to differential rotation in which the bands and zones of the planet rotate at different speeds. The Great Red Spot (GRS) is located 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator and has a drift velocity which changes its rotational period monthly. We use feature tracking and 2D to 3D mapping techniques to observationally determine the rotation of the GRS and compare it to the expected rotation rate of 11.5 km/s determined by observations of the magnetosphere. Through our analysis we observe the movement of the GRS over multiple nights and construct an average speed based on this data. We determine the average speed of the GRS to be around 10.97 km/s, a 4.60% difference from the expected value.