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Mystery Spot on Jupiter Baffles Astronomers

Posted by Hemos on from the the-black-big-red-spot dept.

seanmeister writes "From Space.com: "Astronomers have spotted a strange, obvious and inexplicable black spot near the equator of Jupiter. A picture of the object is circling this planet electronically as researchers scratch their heads about what they've found. A second image, taken on another day by a different photographer, contains a similar looking spot. As of early today, the second image had deepened the mystery. Some astronomers were at first puzzled over whether the two photos show the same thing or not. As it turns out, they do not." I, for one, welcome our new monolith overlords!"

3 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Thanks by avalys · · Score: 5, Informative

    The link to the actual article.

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  2. Galileo's revenge? by gargleblast · · Score: 5, Funny

    So that's what happens when you plunge a plutonium-powered space probe into a gas giant...

  3. Maybe not so mysterious... by OneOver137 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I was googling for info and came across a page from JPL. The date is 1998 and the photo from Galileo.

    An excerpt:

    "A recently discovered black spot in Jupiter's clouds is darker than any featue ever before observed on the giant planet. The spot may be theresult of a downward spiraling wind that blows away high clouds and revealsdeeper, very dark cloud layers." Here's the link:

    http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01496