It is human nature to think we are the biggest, and most important thing in the Universe. How wrong we are… We are just a minuscule part of a larger solar system, in our local group, in the known universe. It is easy to forget how small we actually are, and how short our lives are when compared to the life of the universe. Every so often, I like to remind myself of this fact, in order to give myself perspective. To gain perspective, I read the article “Giant Red Spot may be cranking up heat on Jupiter” by Doyle Rice featured in the USA TODAY.

As you might have guessed, the article focused on the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. The article explains how researchers have discovered that Jupiter’s atmosphere is much hotter than predicted at temperatures around 800 to 1,700 degrees. Researchers were surprised to discover these high temperatures because Jupiter is far from the Sun, meaning sunlight should only be able to heat the upper levels of Jupiter’s atmosphere a fraction of what is reported. The article goes on to explain how this led researchers to theorize that Jupiter’s red spot, which is the largest storm in our solar system, is producing energy waves that dramatically increase Jupiter’s temperature. The text concludes that these recent findings are making scientists more excited for the incoming JUNO results, which is the closest research satellite to Jupiter, for more data.

While this article isn’t considered “hard news”, it still is significant as it informs the public about recent scientific discoveries. The article might not claim the same amount of attention as the headlines on the front page, but it still highlights important events in science for the common person. A similar article to this would be featured in a scientific journal or newsletter, but with different language that the common person would find very difficult to understand. By featuring it in the USA TODAY, anyone can marvel at the universe we live in because it is easy to understand. For someone like myself, reading an article about something light hearted every so often is very relaxing, due to the fact that much of the news that I see is negative. This article also provided me with perspective. Jupiter has been around for millions of years, and will continue to be around for millions of years. So the negative news that we are faced with every day is just a blink of an eye to the impact, and news of the universe.