4 ms·

The asymmetry you are seeing could be a convection zone (the bright spot being the convection zone). There are also theories that the dimming is from expelled m

The asymmetry you are seeing could be a convection zone (the bright spot being the convection zone). There are also theories that the dimming is from expelled matter, and I believe there are telescopes taking measurements to confirm or deny this idea.

BurningFrog 7y ago
Yeah, I was advocating the "expelled matter" theory. Not sure what a "convection zone" means. Would it be kinda like the Jupiter red spot?
- Sharlin 7y ago
  An area where hotter matter from the star's interior is convected to the surface, like the granules on the surface of our own sun, but vastly larger. Giant stars, especially near the end of their lives, are weird and unstable and asymmetric and are thought to only have a few huge convection cells covering their whole surface (if you can even talk about a surface given how nebulous giant stars are—almost all of their volume is basically vacuum). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_(solar_physics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_(solar_physics)
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    Thanks! Wikipedia says... "Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning strikes. The storms are a result of moist convection in the atmosphere connected to the evaporation and condensation of water. They are sites of strong upward motion of the air, which leads to the formation of bright and dense clouds." ...which I read as it is also a convection phenomenon, but due to very different underlying forces, of course. Not that I knew that :)
    - Sharlin 7y ago
      Yes, and as the WP page says, convection is also what causes thunderstorms on Earth, and, well, pretty much all weather. Convection of solid (but malleable) rock in the mantle is responsible for plate tectonics.

4 ms·

The asymmetry you are seeing could be a convection zone (the bright spot being the convection zone). There are also theories that the dimming is from expelled m

by doctoboggan 7y ago

BurningFrog 7y ago
Yeah, I was advocating the "expelled matter" theory. Not sure what a "convection zone" means. Would it be kinda like the Jupiter red spot?
- Sharlin 7y ago
  An area where hotter matter from the star's interior is convected to the surface, like the granules on the surface of our own sun, but vastly larger. Giant stars, especially near the end of their lives, are weird and unstable and asymmetric and are thought to only have a few huge convection cells covering their whole surface (if you can even talk about a surface given how nebulous giant stars are—almost all of their volume is basically vacuum). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection_cell https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_(solar_physics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granule_(solar_physics)
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    Thanks! Wikipedia says... "Jupiter has powerful storms, often accompanied by lightning strikes. The storms are a result of moist convection in the atmosphere connected to the evaporation and condensation of water. They are sites of strong upward motion of the air, which leads to the formation of bright and dense clouds." ...which I read as it is also a convection phenomenon, but due to very different underlying forces, of course. Not that I knew that :)
    - Sharlin 7y ago
      Yes, and as the WP page says, convection is also what causes thunderstorms on Earth, and, well, pretty much all weather. Convection of solid (but malleable) rock in the mantle is responsible for plate tectonics.