Hubble images show Jupiter's Great Red Spot shrinking
Posted: Sun, May 18, 2014, 10:42 AM ET (1442 GMT)
New images from the Hubble Space Telescope show that Jupiter's Great Red Spot has shrunk to the smallest size ever observed for the massive storm. The Hubble images, taken earlier this year, show the Great Red Spot is now about 16,500 kilometers across, about one-third smaller than when the Voyager spacecraft flew past Jupiter in 1979. Astronomers have been observing a gradual shrinking of the storm, as well as a change in shape from oblong to more circular; that rate of shrinkage has increased in recent years. Scientists speculate that interactions with small eddies in the atmosphere may be draining the storm of energy and causing it to become smaller.
New images from the Hubble Space Telescope show that Jupiter's Great Red Spot has shrunk to the smallest size ever observed for the massive storm. The Hubble images, taken earlier this year, show the Great Red Spot is now about 16,500 kilometers across, about one-third smaller than when the Voyager spacecraft flew past Jupiter in 1979. Astronomers have been observing a gradual shrinking of the storm, as well as a change in shape from oblong to more circular; that rate of shrinkage has increased in recent years. Scientists speculate that interactions with small eddies in the atmosphere may be draining the storm of energy and causing it to become smaller.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
SpaceX performs two Falcon 9 launches less than an hour apart
Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:57 AM ET (1457 GMT) Virgin Galactic delays resumption of commercial flights to 2027
Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:54 AM ET (1454 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Friday, August 21
Musk Touts Starlink for India’s Rural Users Amid Stalled Launch
Bloomberg News — 6:52 am ET (1052 GMT) U.S. Space Forces–Space Outlines Joint and Allied Integration Strategies at Space and Missile Defense Symposium
EINPresswire.com — 6:52 am ET (1052 GMT) Williamson County grants tax incentives for Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin
Austin (TX) American-Statesman — 6:43 am ET (1043 GMT) Rocket Lab’s Bold Move to Acquire Iridium: Analysts Break Down the Strategy
ViaSatellite — 6:43 am ET (1043 GMT) SpaceX, AST Said Seeking Grain Spectrum Valued at $6 Billion
Bloomberg News — 6:39 am ET (1039 GMT) |
