Gemini Captures Close Encounter of Jupiter's Red Spots

[telfrow]

<i>A high-resolution image just released by the Gemini Observatory shows two giant red spots brushing past one another in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. <br /><br />The image was obtained in near infrared light using adaptive optics which removed most of the distortions caused by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere. The result is a view from the ground that rivals images from space. <br /><br />"It was tricky getting this picture," said Gemini astronomer Chad Trujillo who helped lead the effort to capture the image. "Since we used adaptive optics we needed a star-like object nearby to guide on, so we had to find a time when Jupiter's moon Io would appear close enough to Jupiter and the red spots would be optimally placed on Jupiter's disk. Fortunately it all worked out on the evening of July 13th and we were able to capture this relatively rare set of circumstances," said Trujillo. <br /><br />Professor Steve Miller of University College London is a keen Jupiter-watcher and said The latest images from Gemini are truly amazing in the detail that they show of these two major storm systems on Jupiter. It is now clear that they are lined up more or less "on top" of each other, with the smaller storm further south, closer to the South Pole. <br /><br />Both red spots are massive storm systems. The larger one, known for a long time as the Great Red Spot, lies about 8 kilometres (5 miles) above the neighbouring cloud tops and is the largest hurricane known in the solar system. The smaller storm (officially called Oval BA, but informally known as Red Spot Junior) is another hurricane-like system. Since it appears nearly as bright as the Great Red Spot in near-infrared images, Red Spot Junior may be at a similar height in the Jovian atmosphere as the Great Red Spot. <br /><br />Prof Miller added We have known for some time that the Great Red Spot is at least three hundred and fifty years old. But the last decade has quite literally seen the birth of another enormous storm - known affecti</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[jmilsom]

Great post. I wonder if Red Spot Senior and Junior will ever merge? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

It is fascinating. Jupiter is never boring. I have a couple of great images from the Hubble Space Telescope. I doubt that they will merge any time soon. The Great Red Spot & Red Spot Junior appear to occupy two very distinct zones. <br /><br />Both are anticyclonic (high pressure) storms with centres rising some 10 kilometres above the surrounding cloud tops.<br /><br />I hope that the Red Spot Junior is still there when New Horizons passes by, on route to Pluto on Wednesday 28th February 2007. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Close up of Gemini image. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Close up of Hubble Space Telescope image of Red Spot Junior. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>