Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation:
These detailed Hubble Space Telescope close-ups
feature Jupiter's
ancient swirling storm system
known as the
Great Red Spot.
They also
follow the progress of two newer storm
systems that have grown to take on a similar reddish hue:
the smaller "Red Spot Jr." (bottom), and smaller still,
a "baby red spot".
Red Spot Jr. was seen to form
in
2006, while the smaller spot was just identified
earlier this year.
For scale,
the Great Red Spot has almost twice the diameter
of planet Earth.
Moving
horizontally from left to right past the Great Red Spot,
Red Spot Jr. clearly went below the larger storm,
but the smaller spot was pulled in.
Emerging on the right, the baby spot's stretched and now paler
shape is indicated by the arrow in the frame from July 8.
It is expected that the baby red spot will be pulled back and
merge, becoming part of the giant storm system.
