Bright, high-altitude clouds accompany the new northern dark spot. Atmospheric gases that flow up over the spot cool to form the methane-ice crystal clouds. The new spot might be a hole in Neptune’s methane cloud tops, giving astronomers a peek at lower levels of the atmosphere.

Neptune

Great Dark Spot on Neptune, captured by a narrow-angle camera aboard Voyager 2, 1999. Clouds appear in Neptune’s dynamic atmosphere in an image captured by Voyager 2 in 1989. At the centre is the Great Dark Spot, a swirling storm system the size of Earth, and its associated methane-ice clouds.

Dark spots may dissipate when they migrate too close to the equator, or possibly through some other unknown mechanisms. However, in 2016, an almost identical spot emerged in Neptune’s northern hemisphere. This new spot, called the Great Dark Spot (NGDS), has remained visible for several years.

While observing the planet’s large inky storm, astronomers spotted a smaller vortex they named Dark Spot Jr. Neptune boasts some of the strangest weather in the solar system. The Hubble Space Telescope identified a storm in 2018, a dark spot some 4,600 miles across.

And each Great Dark Spot probably lives for just two years or so, though some may reach the ripe old age of six.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has spotted a giant black spot on Jupiter that stretched 2,200 miles across the surface of the gas planet. On its website, NASA explains that there is a straightforward explanation for the somewhat sinister-looking spot. The mark is simply the shadow of Jupiter’s moon, Io.

Mercury

“It’s a high-pressure storm system rooted in Jupiter’s troposphere far below the cloudtops. The Great Dark Spot is apparently shallow and confined to Jupiter’s high stratosphere.” The solar wind can also trigger auroras on Jupiter, but it’s not necessary; on Jupiter the planet itself energizes Northern Lights.

Saturn is also the ‘windiest’ planet, with atmospheric winds of up to 1600 kilometres per hour, much stronger than in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Saturn is composed mainly of hydrogen and helium. The ringed planet is nine times further away from the Sun than the Earth.

According to NASA, most scientists say YOOR-un-us.

The Days (And Years) Of Our Lives

A year on Mars is longer than a year on Earth—almost twice as long at 687 days. This is roughly 1.88 times the length of a year on Earth, so to calculate your age on Mars we simply have to divide your Earth age by 1.88.

Jupiter

dwarf planet

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