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New Red Spot on Jupiter

Photo: Jupiter's swirling, spotted surface

A view of Jupiter taken by Hubble in May 2008 shows a new red spot (far left) on the planet's storm-roiled surface. The new blemish, which appeared in spring of 2006, is significantly smaller than its older siblings, the Great Red Spot (center-right) and Red Spot Jr. Careful study of visible-light images like this one and others taken in near-infrared light suggests that these red spot storms rise high above Jupiter's atmosphere.

Photograph courtesy M. Wong and I. de Pater (University of California, Berkeley)