Jupiters Great Red Spot from Voyager 1
Explanation:
What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot?
Recorded as shrinking since the 1930s, the rate of the
Great Red Spot's size appears to have accelerated just
in the past few years.
A hurricane larger than Earth, the
Great Red Spot has been
raging
at least as long as telescopes could see it.
Like most astronomical phenomena, the
Great Red Spot was neither predicted nor immediately understood after its discovery.
Although small eddies that feed into the
storm system seem to play a role, a more full understanding of the
gigantic storm cloud
remains a topic of continued research, and may result in a
better understanding of weather here on Earth.
The
above image
is a digital enhancement of an image of Jupiter taken in 1979 by the
Voyager 1 spacecraft as it zoomed
by the Solar System's largest planet.
NASA's
Juno spacecraft
is currently heading
toward Jupiter
and will arrive in 2016.
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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.
