A new inquiry has been made into the question of whether Jupiter's Great Red Spot shows a solar activity dependence. From 1892 to 1947 a clear correlations was present. A dearth of sightings in the seventeenth century, along with the Maunder Minimum, further supports the relation. An anticorrelation, however, from l948 to l967 removed support for such an effect. The old observations have reexamined and recent observations have also been studied. The author reexamines this difficult question and suggests a possible physical mechanism for a Sun-Jovian weather relation. Prinn and Lewis' conversion reaction of Phosphine gas to triclinic red phosphorous crystals is a reaction dependent upon solar radiation. It may explain the dependence found, as well as the striking appearance of the Great Red Spot in the UV. |