When 17th-century astronomers first turned their telescopes to Jupiter, they noted a conspicuous reddish spot on the giant planet. This Great Red Spot is still present in Jupiter’s atmosphere, more than 300 years later. It is now known that it is a vast storm, spinning like a cyclone. Unlike a low-pressure hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, however, the Red Spot rotates in a counterclockwise direction in the southern hemisphere, showing that it is a high-pressure system. Winds inside this Jovian storm reach speeds of about 270 mph. The Red Spot is the largest known storm in the Solar System. With a diameter of 15,400 miles, it is almost twice the size of the entire Earth and one-sixth the diameter of Jupiter itself. The long lifetime of the Red Spot may be due to the fact that Jupiter is mainly a gaseous planet. It possibly has liquid layers, but lacks a solid surface, which would dissipate the storm’s energy, much as happens when a hurricane makes landfall on the Earth. However, the Red Spot does change its shape, size, and color. Such changes are demonstrated in high-resolution Wide Field and Planetary Cameras 1 & 2 images of Jupiter obtained by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, and presented here by the Hubble Heritage Project team. The Hubble images were originally collected by Amy Simon (Cornell U.), Reta Beebe (NMSU), Heidi Hammel (Space Science Institute, MIT), and their collaborators, and have been prepared for presentation by the Hubble Heritage Team.

Date:
08/05/1999
NASA Center:
Hubble Space Telescope Center
Subject Category:
Planetary Astronomy
Subject Category:
Planet-Jupiter
Subject Category:
Hubble
Keywords:
Space
Keywords:
Field
Keywords:
Camera
Keywords:
Jupiter
Keywords:
Great
Keywords:
Red
Keywords:
Spot
Keywords:
Telescope
Keywords:
Wide
Keywords:
Planetary
Keywords:
Hubble
Keywords:
HST
Keywords:
WFPC
Audience:
General Public
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Jupiter
facet_what:
Aura
facet_what:
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
facet_where:
Jupiter
facet_where:
Caribbean Sea
facet_when:
08-05-1999
facet_when_year:
1999
Image #:
PR99-29A1
orignial url:
http://grin.hq.nasa…
UID:
SPD-GRIN-GPN-2000-00 0910
Center:
HSTI
Center Number:
PR99-29A1
GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000910
Creator-Photographer:
NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI, AURA, Amy Simon Cornell
Original Source:
DIGITAL
Image ID:
127368
Resolution Size:
4
Format:
JPEG
Media Type:
Image
File Name:
GPN-2000-000910.jpg
Width:
1496
Height:
1492

Tags: An Ancient Storm in the Jovian Atmosphere, galaxy, nasa, photo, space, star, Universe

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