Jupiter s Three Red Spots
Explanation:
For about 300 years Jupiter's banded atmosphere has shown
a remarkable feature to
telescopic viewers,
a large swirling storm system known as
The Great Red
Spot.
In
2006, another red
storm system appeared,
actually seen to form as smaller whitish oval-shaped storms
merged and then developed the curious reddish hue.
Now, Jupiter has a third red spot, again
produced from a smaller whitish storm.
All three are seen
in
this image made from
data recorded on May 9 and 10 with the Hubble Space Telescope's
Wide Field and
Planetary Camera 2.
The spots extend above the surrounding clouds
and their
red color
may be due to deeper material dredged up by the
storms and exposed to ultraviolet light, but the exact chemical
process is still unknown.
For scale,
the Great Red Spot has almost twice the diameter
of planet Earth,
making both new spots less than one Earth-diameter across.
The newest red spot is on the far left (west), along the same band
of clouds as the Great Red Spot and is drifting toward it.
If the motion continues, the new spot will encounter the much
larger storm system in August.
Jupiter's recent outbreak of red spots is likely related to
large scale
climate change
as the gas giant planet is getting warmer near the equator.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
