The two new image maps of Jupiter revealed a “rare wave” near the equator and “filament-like feature” inside the Great Red Spot, neither of which had ever been seen before. The space agency is making an effort to produce more ultra-high-definition programming for both its YouTube channel and for the upcoming 4K channel for television.
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The latest maps of Jupiter confirm that the Giant Red Spot is shrinking fast into a Medium Red Spot. According to NASA, the long axis of the spot is now 150 miles (240 kilometers) shorter now than it was in 2014. As part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program, the camera has now been pointed at Neptune and Uranus – images of which will also to be made available to the public. Instead of its efforts being focused on distant objects and far off galaxies as it did so in the past, NASA scientists hope to use it in order to learn more about planets a little bit closer to home. Scientists also describe the storm as emitting more of an orange color, not red, while its core has faded in color over the past several years. ‘This time is no exception’.
In this new image of Jupiter a broad range of features has been captured, including winds, clouds and storms. The NASA scientists noticed an unusual wispy filament within the spot, which has never been seen before. The new image is the first in a series of annual portraits of the solar system’s outer planets, which will give us new glimpses of these remote worlds, and help scientists to study how they change over time.
One theory suggests that these are baroclinic waves, which often form in the Earth’s atmosphere as cyclones begin to form.
“Until now, we thought the wave seen by Voyager 2 might have been a fluke”, Glenn Orton of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. In those images, the wave is barely visible, and nothing like it was seen again, until the current wave was found traveling at about 16 degrees north latitude, in a region dotted with cyclones and anticyclones. ‘As it turns out, it’s just rare!’
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NASA says that Saturn will be added to the series at a later date.
