The Hubble Telescope has shared images of the birth of a giant storm on Neptune that may help scientists understand the ice-giant planets. Similar to Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, Neptune’s Great Dark Spots are also storms that occur from areas of high atmospheric pressure. This is different from Earth as here storms are formed around areas of low pressure.
Six dark spots have been observed by scientists over the years where Voyager 2 had identified two in 1989. The Hubble Telescope has recorded four more storms since its launch in 1990.
Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the US said “If you study the exoplanets and you want to understand how they work, you really need to understand our planets first.”
The images have also helped pinpoint how frequent Neptune’s dark spots occur and how long they last.
The readings will give insights to the scientists on the inner workings of the ice giant planets and also have implications for studying exoplanets of similar size and composition.
These storms are being dubbed as “The Great Dark Spot” and “Dark Spot 2.”
“We were so busy tracking this smaller storm from 2015, that we weren’t necessarily expecting to see another big one so soon,” added Simon.
[Image: Wikipedia]
