Jupiter's Great Red Spot & Little Red Spot get baby brother

William Atkins
Saturday, 24 May 2008 18:07

Science - Space

Astronomers here on Earth have discovered a third red spot on Jupiter, joining the Great Red Spot and the Little Red Spot (Red Spot, Jr.) as huge “anti-cyclonic” storms on the largest planet in our solar system.

The space-based Hubble Space Telescope and the ground-based W.M. Keck telescope (Hawaii, U.S.A.) were used to make this discovery in the visible light and near-infrared parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Astronomers observed the third spot between May 9 and May 11, 2008.

The Great Red Spot, large enough to contain two or three Earth-size planets, has been a presence on Jupiter, at latitude twenty-two degrees (give or take one degree of variability) south of the equator, for somewhere between 180 and 340 years.

The Little Red Spot only appeared early in 2006.

The new red spot, currently unnamed, is located to the west of the Great Red Spot and at the same latitude—well above the methane atmosphere of the planet.

Thus, if this new spot, which initially appeared as an oval-shaped white spot, continues on its current course, it could possibly be gobbled up by the Big Red Spot later in the year, possibly in August 2008, or be forced away by the overwhelming giant spot.

The Little Red Spot is located at a lower latitude than the other two spots, but between the Great Red Spot and this new one. It is expected to pass the Great Red Spot in June 2008.

An image of all three “red” spots appears on the National Geographic website “PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Jupiter Gains New Red Spot.”

Astronomers think that Jupiter may be in the midst of global climate change. Read about it on the next page.