News from NASA:
This latest image of Jupiter, taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on August 25, 2020, was captured when the planet was 406 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s sharp view is giving researchers an updated weather report on the monster planet’s turbulent atmosphere, including a remarkable new storm brewing, and a cousin of the famous Great Red Spot region gearing up to change color – again.
A unique and exciting detail of Hubble’s snapshot appears at mid-northern latitudes as a bright white stretched-out storm traveling around the planet at 350 miles per hour (560 kilometers per hour). This single plume erupted on August 18, 2020—and ground-based observers have discovered two more that appeared later at the same latitude.
Another feature researchers are noticing has changed is Oval BA, nicknamed by astronomers as Red Spot Jr., which appears just below the Great Red Spot in this image. For the past few years, Red Spot Jr. has been fading in color to its original shade of white after appearing red in 2006. However, now the core of this storm appears to be darkening slightly. This could hint that Red Spot Jr. is on its way to turning to a color more similar to its cousin once again.
The icy moon Europa, thought to hold potential ingredients for life, is visible to the left of the gas giant. (Source: NASA)
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