By Jupiter, scientists find 'Red Spot Jr.'

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/07/31/jupiter.spot.reut/index.html

By Jupiter, scientists find 'Red Spot Jr.'

Monday, July 31, 2006; Posted: 2:12 p.m. EDT (18:12 GMT)

High resolution images captured by the Keck II telescope in Hawaii show a second red spot on Jupiter.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Jupiter's Great Red Spot -- a high-pressure storm on the big planet's surface -- has been around for centuries, but Monday astronomers released images of a new, smaller Jovian storm they call Red Spot Jr.

Using the Keck II telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the W.M. Keck Observatory captured a high-resolution picture of both spots on July 20.

Red Spot Jr. is about as wide as Earth's diameter and formed from the merger of three white spots very recently, sometime between 1998 and 2000, and only turned red in December 2005, the astronomers said in a statement.

The Great Red Spot is nearly twice its smaller companion's size and has been circling Jupiter for at least 342 years. But the two are located in the same area and appear to be racing each other around the planet.

MORE (very cool pic, too!)

[NMDemDist2]

1. my DH (the amateur astronomer) says that's old news, he got his

scope on it in February

it's pretty darn cool though huh?