Jupiter: Hubble Views Ancient Storm in the Atmosphere - montage | PIA01593 | ||
![]() |
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. | ||
Go to Full Text | |||
![]() |
|||
![]() |
|||
Image Credit: Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA/NASA) and Amy Simon (Cornell U.). | |||
|
|||
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, sometimes dramatically. 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 mosaic presents a series of pictures of the Red Spot obtained by Hubble between 1992 and 1999 (see PIA01594 thru PIA01599 and PIA02400 thru PIA02402 for individual images). |
|
Return to top of page |