The Great Red Spot has remained an essentially constant feature of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere for at least the past several hundred years. How can a storm persist for so long?
Now’s a great time to see Jupiter as it’s about to be the closest to Earth for some time. Time too to catch up with the latest on the Juno mission, exploring the largest planet in our Solar System.
The images are in from the Juno probe’s closest flyby so far of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Citizen scientists are now getting involved in processing those images.
Juno has flown closer to the solar system’s most famous storm than any other spacecraft to take the most detailed images to date. They may help scientists reveal some of the spot’s best-kept secrets.
We may need to re-think our models of Jupiter’s formation thanks to the first results from Juno probe orbiting the planet, and new observations from Earth.
Look towards the north-west after sunset and there is currently one bright point of light that easily stands out relative to everything around it. That is the planet Jupiter, shining with an intense and…