Great Red Spot eats 'Baby'

Jul 25, 2008

A recently discovered hurricane-like storm on Jupiter's surface, called Baby Red Spot, was sucked up by the Great Red Spot.

Images from the Hubble telescope show the end of a giant red storm on Jupiter which had been called the "Baby Red Spot". Baby (left) was a white storm that had apparently dredged up material beneath Jupiter's cloud cover in May 2008, causing it to turn red.

The other two giant red storms on Jupiter are called Red Spot Jr. (between and slightly below the other two spots) and the Great Red Spot. Red Spot Jr. turned red in 2006. The Great Red Spot (right) is a storm that's wider than two Earths that was first spotted on Jupiter at least 168 years ago and is likely much older.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon-Miller (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)