NASA discovers big black spot on Jupiter more than twice as long as NZ

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NASA discovers big black spot on Jupiter more than twice as long as NZ

2/10/2019 10:08pm

> From the WeatherWatch archives

A NASA space mission found a large black spot on Jupiter, and it isn’t what you think. Could it be a heretofore unseen phenomenon, or someone’s idea of a prank on the scientists? Neither is true, according to NASA.

It’s a moon shadow.

The shadow is from Jupiter’s volcanically active moon, lo, eclipsing the sun, just like our moon does on Earth.

NASA said the spot measured 3540km wide (2,200 miles) â€” roughly the distance between New York City and Las Vegas, Nevada (or twice the length of NZ!)

Jupiter's volcanically active moon Io casts its shadow on the planet.

Jupiter, the largest planet in the Milky Way, has several moons that frequently eclipse the sun because of Jupiter’s size and the fact that the planet is not “highly tilted” compared to its orbit, according to NASA.

The photo was taken by NASA’s solar-powered spacecraft Juno on September 11 during its 22nd full orbit of Jupiter. The spacecraft has been in use since 2011 and entered its initial 53-day orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016.

– Story by CNN (WeatherWatch.co.nz is a CNN International affiliate)

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Guest on 3/10/2019 12:28am

….”Jupiter, the largest planet in the Milky Way,”…… um no I don’t think so. The milky way is our entire galaxy of some 100,000 light years across with between 100 billion and 400 billion stars. I think you find it is the largest planet of the Solar System, Sol being the name of our star hence Solar and Jupiter being one of eight planets in it.

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