File:Hubble Sees New Dark Spot on Neptune (27415202964).jpg

Original file(1,042 × 1,042 pixels, file size: 136 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary edit

Description
English: New images obtained on May 16, 2016, by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope confirm the presence of a dark vortex in the atmosphere of Neptune. This full visible-light image shows that the dark feature resides near and below a patch of bright clouds in the planet's southern hemisphere. Though similar features were seen during the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune in 1989 and by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1994, this vortex is the first one observed on Neptune in the 21st century. Neptune's dark vortices are high-pressure systems and are usually accompanied by bright "companion clouds," which are also now visible on the distant planet. The bright clouds form when the flow of ambient air is perturbed and diverted upward over the dark vortex, causing gases to likely freeze into methane ice crystals.
Date Taken on 16 May 2016
Source Hubble Sees New Dark Spot on Neptune; see also https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2016/22/3748-Image.html
Author NASA, ESA, and M.H. Wong and J. Tollefson (UC Berkeley)

Licensing edit

Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current15:49, 13 July 2018Thumbnail for version as of 15:49, 13 July 20181,042 × 1,042 (136 KB)Hiàn (alt) (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

Metadata