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New images of Jupiter show new storm moving at 350 mph

WION Web Team
New York, New York, United States of AmericaUpdated: Sep 19, 2020, 11:53 AM IST
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(File photo) Planet Jupiter Photograph:(Others)

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A bright white splotch in Jupiter's northern latitudes indicates a new storm barreling around the planet at 350 mph. The massive storm is big enough to swallow Earth.

New photos by the Hubble Space Telescope have shown a 'remarkable new storm' raging across Jupiter and its moon Europa.

The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore released them on Thursday.

A bright white splotch in Jupiter's northern latitudes indicates a new storm barreling around the planet at 350 mph. The massive storm is big enough to swallow Earth.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is unusually red in the photo. 

"Hubble's sharp view is giving researchers an updated weather report on the monster planet's turbulent atmosphere, including a remarkable new storm brewing," the European Space Agency/Hubble said in a statement. 

"While it's common for storms to pop up in this region, often several at once, this particular disturbance appears to have more structure behind it than observed in previous storms. Trailing behind the plume are small, counterclockwise dark clumps also not witnessed in the past, " the ESA said. 

"Researchers speculate this may be the beginning of a longer-lasting northern hemisphere spot, perhaps to rival the legendary Great Red Spot that dominates the southern hemisphere."

Jupiter

NASA plans to launch a spacecraft, the Europa Clipper, later this decade to see if conditions there might be ripe for life.

That mission "aims to explore both Jupiter and three of its largest moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa."