What Is The Great Dark Spot On Neptune

Gds 89 was the first great dark spot on neptune to be observed in 1989 by nasa s voyager 2 spaceprobe.

The great dark spot centre left is 13 000 km 8 100 miles about the diameter of earth in its longer dimension. Clouds in neptune s atmosphere photographed by voyager 2 in august 1989. The gds is thought to be a hole in the methane cloud deck of neptune it was observed at different times with different. There is no planet called the great dark spot.

Originally observed in 1989 by nasa s voyager 2 probe the first dark spots on the planets that scientists discovered completely vanished by the time hubble launched half a decade later leaving. Michael wong a planetary scientist of the university of california berkeley declared. We are excited about these observations because this smaller dark fragment is potentially part of the dark spot s disruption process. What is the great dark spot.

The great dark spot was a huge spinning storm in the southern atmosphere of neptune which was about the size of the entire earth. The hubble image of neptune taken in september and november of 2018 shows a new dark storm top center. Though similar features were seen during the. Like jupiter s spot great dark spots are anticyclonic storms.

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The great dark spot was one of a series of dark spots on neptune similar in appearance to jupiter s great red spot. Hubble obtained new images of neptune on may 16 showing the new dark spot which astronomers tend to call a vortex. However neptune s great dark spot had very few clouds inside the spot. Sciencealert posted the following image to represent better what was found on neptune.

Though similar features were seen during the voyager 2 flyby of neptune in 1989 and by the hubble space telescope in 1994 this vortex is the first one observed on neptune in the 21st century. However their interiors are relatively cloud free and unlike jupiter s spot which has lasted for hundreds of years their lifetimes appear to be shorter forming and dissipating once every few years. The view is from below the planet s equator and north is up. These were the strongest winds ever recorded on any planet in the solar system.

A statement on hubblesite said. In the voyager image a storm known as the great dark spot is seen at the center. Winds in this storm were measured at speeds of up to 1 500 miles per hour.