Starship Asterisk*

Hubble's Jupiter and the Amazing Shrinking Great Red Spot

Explanation: Gas giant Jupiter is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass of planet Earth. It's also known for a giant swirling storm system, the Great Red Spot, featured in this sharp Hubble image from April 21. Nestled between Jupiter-girdling cloud bands, the Great Red Spot itself could still easily swallow Earth, but lately it has been shrinking. The most recent Hubble observations measure the spot to be about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) across. That's the smallest ever measured by Hubble and particularly dramatic when compared to 14,500 miles measured by the Voyager 1 and 2 flybys in 1979, and historic telescopic observations from the 1800s indicating a width of about 25,500 miles on its long axis. Current indications are that the rate of shrinking is increasing for the long-lived Great Red Spot.

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Better late than never.

those two white " spots " un der the red spot look like the remnants of a collision, much like the not so recent collision with the broken up comet remnants

ta152h0 wrote:
those two white " spots " un der the red spot look like the remnants of a collision, much like the not so recent collision with the broken up comet remnants

Incoming comets leave a dark carbon residue on Jupiter:
http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/hst15_sl9_crash/

Outgoing comets leave a dark red spot.

This image is great. Even if the size of the GRS is waning it's still very striking whenever it is as deeply red as this. I also like the red, tadpole-like small formation with the wavy tail diagonally across from the GRS.

Jupiter always looks beautiful. This is a very striking picture, with a smallish but very prominent red spot.

Ann

STILL such a powerful image of Jupiter.

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Boomer12k wrote:STILL such a powerful image of Jupiter.

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I take it from the way you preceded your statement with the word "STILL" that you think this is an archival image? It's only one month old, though.

I couldn't tell this APOD was late. My sundial stopped working last night for some reason.

Nitpicker wrote:I couldn't tell this APOD was late. My sundial stopped working last night for some reason.

Only last night? Mine used to do that frequently... till it broke. It's just so hard to find good reliable stuff now a days.

Nitpicker wrote:I couldn't tell this APOD was late. My sundial stopped working last night for some reason.

The APOD was on time. Otto was a little busy with the new hardware I installed.

geckzilla wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:I couldn't tell this APOD was late. My sundial stopped working last night for some reason.

The APOD was on time. Otto was a little busy with the new hardware I installed.

If an APOD is uploaded to the internet, and no-one on the Starship discusses it, does it still make a noise?

I was dead tired last night and I went to sleep before midnight and just before drifting off the thought of the bot malfunctioning briefly crossed my mind. It's been a nightly task for me to tweak it into tiptop shape for over a week now. The APOD might not make a sound but the sad little error page generated by a malfunctioning bot is enough to move this coder to compassion. There, there, little bot. I will make you better...

The fact that no one wrote a complaint over the 12 hour period before I noticed is rather surprising to me, however.

geckzilla wrote:I was dead tired last night and I went to sleep before midnight and just before drifting off the thought of the bot malfunctioning briefly crossed my mind. It's been a nightly task for me to tweak it into tiptop shape for over a week now. The APOD might not make a sound but the sad little error page generated by a malfunctioning bot is enough to move this coder to compassion. There, there, little bot. I will make you better...

The fact that no one wrote a complaint over the 12 hour period before I noticed is rather surprising to me, however.

We passengers on the Starship are nothing if not polite and reasonable. (And the hard work of the crew is appreciated.)

At present rate and acceleration of shrinkage, how long till jupiter's spotless? Anyone know?

The image is so sharp, I almost expected to see the little swirls of clouds move!

Jim Leff wrote:At present rate and acceleration of shrinkage, how long till jupiter's spotless? Anyone know?

One can fit a parabola to the numbers presented in the explanation and links, like so: ... and come up with a prediction of a little more than 40 years before the GRS disappears.

But I wouldn't put money on it.

Thanks!

If/when it happens, should we dub the former spot "Storm's End"?

Perhaps the gas giant will then have a spotless record...

Good to see such a clear picture though - it looks just like the one I get through my 6 inch reflector (NOT..!)

BDanielMayfield wrote:This image is great. Even if the size of the GRS is waning it's still very striking whenever it is as deeply red as this. I also like the red, tadpole-like small formation with the wavy tail diagonally across from the GRS.

Perhaps the red tadpole is next red spot to be? Is that Red Jr. in the lower left?

Why is this image http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files ... k=70o9PEGO have exactly the same cloud formations? THEY ARE OVER TWO YEARS APART! NASA have you been drinking?

ToothFaerie wrote:Why is this image http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files ... k=70o9PEGO have exactly the same cloud formations? THEY ARE OVER TWO YEARS APART! NASA have you been drinking?

You need to read the fine print

This image combines an image taken with Hubble Space Telescope in the optical (taken in spring 2014) and observations of its auroras in the ultraviolet, taken in 2016.