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89-637: (Redirected from Red Spot ) Red spot or redspot may refer to: Great Red Spot , a persistent anticyclonic vortex on the south border of the South Equatorial belt of Jupiter Red Spot Jr. , a red storm in Jupiter's southern hemisphere similar to, though smaller than, the Great Red Spot Red Spot (G.I. Joe) , a fictional character in the G.I. Joe universe The Red Spot ,

178-456: A German-Japanese film Zesius chrysomallus , a butterfly commonly called the redspot Red Spot , an Irish whiskey. See also [ edit ] Port-wine stain Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Red spot . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to

267-625: A Jovian spot depicted in a 1711 canvas by Donato Creti , which is exhibited in the Vatican . Part of a series of panels in which different (magnified) heavenly bodies serve as backdrops for various Italian scenes, and all overseen by the astronomer Eustachio Manfredi for accuracy, Creti's painting is the first known depiction of the Great Red Spot as red (albeit raised to the Jovian northern hemisphere due to an optical inversion inherent to

356-405: A South Tropical Disturbance. Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) is an elliptical shaped anticyclone, occurring at 22 degrees below the equator, in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. The largest anticyclonic storm (~16,000 km) in our solar system, little is known about its internal depth and structure. Visible imaging and cloud-tracking from in-situ observation determined the velocity and vorticity of

445-572: A distance of 94 AU (8,700 million mi) from the Sun. On March 31, 2006, amateur radio operators from AMSAT in Germany tracked and received radio waves from Voyager 1 using the 20-metre (66 ft) dish at Bochum with a long integration technique. Retrieved data was checked and verified against data from the Deep Space Network station at Madrid, Spain. This seems to be

534-427: A height of 800 km (500 mi) above the storm where they break in the upper atmosphere, converting wave energy into heat. This creates a region of upper atmosphere that is 1,600 K (1,330 °C; 2,420 °F)—several hundred kelvins warmer than the rest of the planet at this altitude. The effect is described as like "crashing [...] ocean waves on a beach". Careful tracking of atmospheric features revealed

623-492: A new region referred to as a "cosmic purgatory". Within this stagnation region, charged particles streaming from the Sun slow and turn inward, and the Solar System's magnetic field is doubled in strength as interstellar space appears to be applying pressure. Energetic particles originating in the Solar System decline by nearly half, while the detection of high-energy electrons from outside increases 100-fold. The inner edge of

712-656: A team of professional astronomers beginning in April 2006 to study the storms using the Hubble Space Telescope ; on 20 July 2006, the two storms were photographed passing each other by the Gemini Observatory without converging. In May 2008, a third storm turned red. The Juno spacecraft , which entered into a polar orbit around Jupiter in 2016, flew over the Great Red Spot upon its close approach to Jupiter on 11 July 2017, taking several images of

801-454: A third wave of coronal mass ejections from the Sun that continued to at least December 15, 2014, further confirming that the probe is in interstellar space. In 2017, the Voyager team successfully fired the spacecraft's trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980, enabling the mission to be extended by two to three years. Voyager 1 ' s extended mission

890-411: Is Giovanni Cassini 's description of a "permanent spot" the following year. With fluctuations in visibility, Cassini's spot was observed from 1665 to 1713, but the 48-year observational gap makes the identity of the two spots inconclusive. The older spot's shorter observational history and slower motion than the modern spot makes it difficult to conclude that they are the same. A minor mystery concerns

979-547: Is also a feature in the atmosphere of Neptune called the Great Dark Spot . The latter feature was imaged by Voyager 2 in 1989 and may have been an atmospheric hole rather than a storm. It was no longer present as of 1994, although a similar spot had appeared farther to the north. Jupiter's Great Red Spot rotates counterclockwise, with a period of about 4.5 Earth days, or 11 Jovian days, as of 2008. Measuring 16,350 km (10,160 mi) in width as of 3 April 2017,

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1068-513: Is an improved version of the one that was used in the 1970s Viking orbiters . The Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) controls the spacecraft orientation (its attitude ). It keeps the high-gain antenna pointing towards the Earth , controls attitude changes, and points the scan platform. The custom-built AACS systems on both Voyagers are the same. The Voyager 1 probe was launched on September 5, 1977, from Launch Complex 41 at

1157-486: Is apparently coupled to the SEB; when the belt is bright white, the spot tends to be dark, and when it is dark, the spot is usually light. These periods when the spot is dark or light occur at irregular intervals; from 1947 to 1997, the spot was darkest in the periods 1961–1966, 1968–1975, 1989–1990, and 1992–1993. Voyager 1 elapsed Voyager 1 is a space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, as part of

1246-522: Is expected to continue to return scientific data until at least 2025, with a maximum lifespan of until 2030. Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) may supply enough electric power to return engineering data until 2036. A 1960s proposal for a Grand Tour to study the outer planets led NASA to begin work on a mission during the early 1970s. Information gathered by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft helped engineers design Voyager to better cope with

1335-404: Is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations. In 2019, the Great Red Spot began "flaking" at its edge, with fragments of the storm breaking off and dissipating. The shrinking and "flaking" fueled speculation from some astronomers that the Great Red Spot could dissipate within 20 years. However, other astronomers believe that the apparent size of

1424-456: Is still no logical reason that it is 200–500 km in depth, but the jet streams that supply the force that powers the GRS vortex are well below the structure base. It is not known what causes the Great Red Spot's reddish color. Hypotheses supported by laboratory experiments suppose that it may be caused by chemical products created from the solar ultraviolet irradiation of ammonium hydrosulfide and

1513-456: Is the most distant human-made object from Earth. The probe made flybys of Jupiter , Saturn , and Saturn's largest moon , Titan . NASA had a choice of either doing a Pluto or Titan flyby; exploration of the moon took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere. Voyager 1 studied the weather, magnetic fields , and rings of the two gas giants and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons. As part of

1602-428: Is unable to communicate with the Earth, its digital tape recorder (DTR) can record about 67 megabytes of data for later transmission. As of 2023 , signals from Voyager 1 take more than 22 hours to reach Earth. Voyager 1 has three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) mounted on a boom. Each MHW-RTG contains 24 pressed plutonium-238 oxide spheres. The RTGs generated about 470 W of electric power at

1691-552: Is used for latitudes of more than 10 degrees and was originally based on the average rotational period of the Great Red Spot of 9h 55m 42s. Despite this, however, the spot has "lapped" the planet in System II at least 10 times since the early 19th century. Its drift rate has changed dramatically over the years and has been linked to the brightness of the South Equatorial Belt and the presence or absence of

1780-475: The digital computers , the Flight Data Subsystem (FDS). Since the 1990s, most space probes have been equipped with completely autonomous cameras. The computer command subsystem (CCS) controls the cameras. The CCS contains fixed computer programs, such as command decoding, fault-detection and fault-correction routines, antenna pointing routines, and spacecraft sequencing routines. This computer

1869-474: The California Institute of Technology said, "Voyager has discovered a new region of the heliosphere that we had not realized was there. We're still inside, apparently. But the magnetic field now is connected to the outside. So it's like a highway letting particles in and out." The magnetic field in this region was 10 times more intense than Voyager 1 encountered before the termination shock. It

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1958-535: The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station , aboard a Titan IIIE launch vehicle . The Voyager 2 probe had been launched two weeks earlier, on August 20, 1977. Despite being launched later, Voyager 1 reached both Jupiter and Saturn sooner, following a shorter trajectory. Voyager 1 ' s launch almost failed because Titan's LR-91 second stage shut down prematurely, leaving 1,200 pounds (540 kg) of propellant unburned. Recognizing

2047-454: The Voyager program and like its sister craft Voyager 2 , the spacecraft's extended mission is to locate and study the regions and boundaries of the outer heliosphere and to begin exploring the interstellar medium . Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause and entered interstellar space on August 25, 2012, making it the first spacecraft to do so. Two years later, Voyager 1 began experiencing

2136-573: The Voyager program to study the outer Solar System and the interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere . It was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2 . It communicates through the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data are provided by NASA and JPL . At a distance of 165.9  AU (24.8  billion   km ; 15.4 billion  mi ) from Earth as of November 2024 , it

2225-493: The equator . The mid-latitude auroras, which occur only in sunlit regions, remain a puzzle, since bombardment by electrons and ions, known to cause auroras on Earth, occurs primarily at high latitudes. Both Voyagers measured the rotation of Saturn (the length of a day) at 10 hours, 39 minutes, 24 seconds. Voyager 1 ' s mission included a flyby of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which had long been known to have an atmosphere. Images taken by Pioneer 11 in 1979 had indicated

2314-495: The termination shock in February 2003. This marks the point where the solar wind slows to subsonic speeds. Some other scientists expressed doubt and discussed this in the journal Nature of November 6, 2003. The issue would not be resolved until other data became available, since Voyager 1 's solar-wind detector ceased functioning in 1990. This failure meant that termination shock detection would have to be inferred from

2403-406: The 35th anniversary of its launch), the date durable changes in the density of energetic particles were first detected. By this point, most space scientists had abandoned the hypothesis that a change in magnetic field direction must accompany a crossing of the heliopause; a new model of the heliopause predicted that no such change would be found. A key finding that persuaded many scientists that

2492-557: The GRS to determine how far the GRS extended toward the surface of the condensed H 2 O layer. These MWR scans suggested that the GRS vertical depth extended to about 240 km below cloud level, with an estimated drop in atmospheric pressure to 100 bar. Two methods of analysis that constrain the data collected were the mascon approach, which found a depth of ~290 km, and the Slepian approach showing wind extending to ~310 km. These methods, along with gravity signature MWR data, suggest that

2581-414: The GRS zonal winds still increase at a rate of 50% of the velocity of the viable cloud level, before the wind decay starts at lower levels. This rate of wind decay and gravity data suggest the depth of the GRS is between 200 and 500 km. Galileo and Cassini's thermal infrared imaging and spectroscopy of the GRS were conducted during 1995–2008, in order to find evidence of thermal inhomogeneities within

2670-487: The GRS, which is located in a thin anticyclonic ring at 70–85% of the radius and is located along Jupiter's fastest westward moving jet stream. During NASA's 2016 Juno mission, gravity signature and thermal infrared data were obtained that offered insight into the structural dynamics and depth of the GRS. During July 2017, the Juno spacecraft conducted a second pass of the GRS to collect Microwave Radiometer (MWR) scans of

2759-459: The Great Red Spot is 1.3 times the diameter of Earth. The cloud-tops of this storm are about 8 km (5 mi) above the surrounding cloud-tops. The storm has continued to exist for centuries because there is no planetary surface (only a mantle of hydrogen ) to provide friction; circulating gas eddies persist for a very long time in the atmosphere because there is nothing to oppose their angular momentum. Infrared data has long indicated that

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2848-402: The Great Red Spot is colder (and thus higher in altitude) than most of the other clouds on the planet. The upper atmosphere above the storm, however, has substantially higher temperatures than the rest of the planet. Acoustic (sound) waves rising from the turbulence of the storm below have been proposed as an explanation for the heating of this region. The acoustic waves travel vertically up to

2937-485: The Great Red Spot reflects its cloud coverage and not the size of the actual, underlying vortex, and they also believe that the flaking events can be explained by interactions with other cyclones or anticyclones, including incomplete absorptions of smaller systems; if this is the case, this would mean that the Great Red Spot is not in danger of dissipating. A smaller spot, designated Oval BA , which formed in March 2000 from

3026-454: The Great Red Spot's counterclockwise circulation as far back as 1966, observations dramatically confirmed by the first time-lapse movies from the Voyager fly-bys. The spot is confined by a modest eastward jet stream to its south and a very strong westward one to its north. Though winds around the edge of the spot peak at about 432 km/h (268 mph), currents inside it seem stagnant, with little inflow or outflow. The rotation period of

3115-410: The Jovian system in April 1979. The discovery of ongoing volcanic activity on the moon Io was probably the greatest surprise. It was the first time active volcanoes had been seen on another body in the Solar System. It appears that activity on Io affects the entire Jovian system . Io appears to be the primary source of matter that pervades the Jovian magnetosphere – the region of space that surrounds

3204-418: The Solar System at 3.3 AU (310 million mi; 490 million km) per year. Each year, Voyager 1 increases its lead over Voyager 2 . Voyager 1 reached a distance of 135 AU (12.5 billion mi; 20.2 billion km) from the Sun on May 18, 2016. On September 5, 2017, that had increased to about 139.64 AU (12.980 billion mi; 20.890 billion km) from

3293-593: The Solar System, with a sharp increase in these collisions in late August. At the same time, in late August, there was a dramatic drop in collisions with low-energy particles, which are thought to originate from the Sun. Ed Roelof, space scientist at Johns Hopkins University and principal investigator for the Low-Energy Charged Particle instrument on the spacecraft, declared that "most scientists involved with Voyager 1 would agree that [these two criteria] have been sufficiently satisfied". However,

3382-495: The Sun, or just over 19 light-hours; at that time, Voyager 2 was 115.32 AU (10.720 billion mi; 17.252 billion km) from the Sun. Its progress can be monitored at NASA's website. On September 12, 2013, NASA officially confirmed that Voyager 1 had reached the interstellar medium in August 2012 as previously observed. The generally accepted date of arrival is August 25, 2012 (approximately 10 days before

3471-400: The Sun. The craft thus began to enter the interstellar medium at the edge of the Solar System. Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross the heliopause in August 2012, then at a distance of 121 AU (1.12 × 10  mi; 1.81 × 10  km) from the Sun, although this was not confirmed for another year. As of September 2012, sunlight took 16.89 hours to get to Voyager 1 which

3560-510: The Sun. Winds blow at high speeds on Saturn. Near the equator, the Voyagers measured winds about 500 m/s (1,100 mph). The wind blows mostly in an easterly direction. The Voyagers found aurora -like ultraviolet emissions of hydrogen at mid-latitudes in the atmosphere, and auroras at polar latitudes (above 65 degrees). The high-level auroral activity may lead to the formation of complex hydrocarbon molecules that are carried toward

3649-428: The atmosphere was substantial and complex, further increasing interest. The Titan flyby occurred as the spacecraft entered the system to avoid any possibility of damage closer to Saturn compromising observations, and approached to within 6,400 km (4,000 mi), passing behind Titan as seen from Earth and the Sun. Voyager's measurement of the atmosphere's effect on sunlight and Earth-based measurement of its effect on

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3738-497: The composition of the phosphine and ammonia aerosols (PH 3 , NH 3 ) and para-hydroxybenzoic acid within the anticyclonic circulation of the GRS. The images that were collected from the CIRS and ground-based imaging trace the vertical motion in the Jovian atmosphere by PH 3 and NH 3 spectra. The highest concentrations of PH 3 and NH 3 were found to the north of the GRS peripheral rotation. They aided in determining

3827-567: The constellation Ophiuchus as observed from the Earth on May 21, 2011. On December 1, 2011, it was announced that Voyager 1 had detected the first Lyman-alpha radiation originating from the Milky Way galaxy. Lyman-alpha radiation had previously been detected from other galaxies, but because of interference from the Sun, the radiation from the Milky Way was not detectable. NASA announced on December 5, 2011, that Voyager 1 had entered

3916-666: The data collected by the VISIR (VLT Mid-Infrared Imager Spectrometer on the ESO Very Large Telescope) imaging obtained in 2006; this revealed that the GRS was physically present at a wide range of altitudes that occur within the atmospheric pressure range of 80–600 mbar, and confirms the thermal infrared mapping result. To develop a model of the internal structure of the GRS the Cassini mission Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and ground based spatial imaging mapped

4005-557: The data from the other instruments on board. In May 2005, a NASA press release said that the consensus was that Voyager 1 was then in the heliosheath . In a scientific session at the American Geophysical Union meeting in New Orleans on May 25, 2005, Ed Stone presented evidence that the craft crossed the termination shock in late 2004. This event is estimated to have occurred on December 15, 2004, at

4094-491: The deficiency, the Centaur stage's on-board computers ordered a burn that was far longer than planned in order to compensate. Centaur extended its own burn and was able to give Voyager 1 the additional velocity it needed. At cutoff, the Centaur was only 3.4 seconds from propellant exhaustion. If the same failure had occurred during Voyager 2 ' s launch a few weeks earlier, the Centaur would have run out of propellant before

4183-402: The east and west of the GRS. The vertical temperature of the structure of the GRS is constrained between the 100–600 mbar range, with the vertical temperature of the GRS core is approximately 400 mbar of pressure , being 1.0–1.5 K, much warmer than regions of the GRS to the east–west, and 3.0–3.5 K warmer than regions to the north–south of the structures edge. This structure is consistent with

4272-423: The era's telescopes). No Jovian feature was explicitly described in writing as red before the late 19th century. The Great Red Spot has been observed since 5 September 1831. By 1879, over 60 observations had been recorded. Since it came into prominence in 1879, it has been under continuous observation. A 2024 study of historical observations suggests that the "permanent spot" observed from 1665 to 1713 may not be

4361-424: The event. On this date, the spacecraft was approximately 116 AU (17.4 billion km; 10.8 billion mi) from the Sun. Voyager 1 was commanded to change its orientation to measure the sideways motion of the solar wind at that location in space in March 2011 (~33yr 6mo from launch). A test roll done in February had confirmed the spacecraft's ability to maneuver and reorient itself. The course of

4450-399: The fastest heliocentric recession speed of any spacecraft. As Voyager 1 headed for interstellar space, its instruments continued to study the Solar System. Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists used the plasma wave experiments aboard Voyager 1 and 2 to look for the heliopause , the boundary at which the solar wind transitions into the interstellar medium . As of 2013 , the probe

4539-542: The first such amateur tracking of Voyager 1 . It was confirmed on December 13, 2010, that Voyager 1 had passed the reach of the radial outward flow of the solar wind , as measured by the Low Energy Charged Particle device. It is suspected that solar wind at this distance turns sideways because of interstellar wind pushing against the heliosphere. Since June 2010, detection of solar wind had been consistently at zero, providing conclusive evidence of

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4628-532: The heliopause had been crossed was an indirect measurement of an 80-fold increase in electron density, based on the frequency of plasma oscillations observed beginning on April 9, 2013, triggered by a solar outburst that had occurred in March 2012 (electron density is expected to be two orders of magnitude higher outside the heliopause than within). Weaker sets of oscillations measured in October and November 2012 provided additional data. An indirect measurement

4717-404: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Red_spot&oldid=1128595534 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Great Red Spot The Great Red Spot may have existed before 1665, but it could be that

4806-543: The intense radiation around Jupiter. Still, shortly before launch, strips of kitchen-grade aluminum foil were applied to certain cables to improve radiation shielding. Initially, Voyager 1 was planned as Mariner 11 of the Mariner program . Due to budget cuts, the mission was reduced to a flyby of Jupiter and Saturn and renamed the Mariner Jupiter-Saturn probes. The name was changed to Voyager when

4895-419: The internal structure vortex of the GRS. Previous thermal infrared temperature maps from the Voyager , Galileo, and Cassini missions suggested the GRS is a structure of an anticyclonic vortex with a cold core within a upwelling warmer annulus; this data shows a gradient in the temperature of the GRS. Better understanding of Jupiter's atmospheric temperature, aerosol particle opacity, and ammonia gas composition

4984-427: The last criterion for officially declaring that Voyager 1 had crossed the boundary, the expected change in magnetic field direction (from that of the Sun to that of the interstellar field beyond), had not been observed (the field had changed direction by only 2 degrees), which suggested to some that the nature of the edge of the heliosphere had been misjudged. On December 3, 2012, Voyager project scientist Ed Stone of

5073-504: The left (west) of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex and variable wave motion. In the 21st century, the major diameter of the Great Red Spot has been observed to be shrinking in size. At the start of 2004, its length was about half that of a century earlier, when it reached a size of 40,000 km (25,000 mi), about three times the diameter of Earth. At the present rate of reduction, it will become circular by 2040. It

5162-675: The merging of three white ovals, has turned reddish in color. Astronomers have named it the Little Red Spot or Red Jr. As of 5 June 2006, the Great Red Spot and Oval BA appeared to be approaching convergence. The storms pass each other about every two years, but the passing of 2002 and 2004 were of little significance. Amy Simon-Miller , of the Goddard Space Flight Center , predicted the storms would have their closest passing on 4 July 2006. She worked with Imke de Pater and Phil Marcus of UC Berkeley as well as

5251-412: The new region was interstellar space or an unknown region of the Solar System. At that time, the former alternative was officially confirmed. In 2013 Voyager 1 was exiting the Solar System at a speed of about 3.6 AU (330 million mi; 540 million km) per year, which is 61,602 km/h, 4.83 times the diameter of Earth (12,742 km) per hour; whereas Voyager 2 is going slower, leaving

5340-513: The organic compound acetylene , which produces a reddish material—likely complex organic compounds called tholins . The high altitude of the compounds may also contribute to the coloring. The Great Red Spot varies greatly in hue, from almost brick-red to pale salmon or even white. The spot occasionally disappears, becoming evident only through the Red Spot Hollow, which is its location in the South Equatorial Belt (SEB). Its visibility

5429-541: The planet influenced by the planet's strong magnetic field . Sulfur , oxygen , and sodium , apparently erupted by Io's volcanoes and sputtered off the surface by the impact of high-energy particles, were detected at the outer edge of the magnetosphere of Jupiter . The two Voyager space probes made a number of important discoveries about Jupiter, its satellites, its radiation belts, and its never-before-seen planetary rings . The gravitational assist trajectories at Jupiter were successfully carried out by both Voyagers, and

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5518-405: The present spot was first seen only in 1830, and was well studied only after a prominent appearance in 1879. The storm that was seen in the 17th century may have been different from the storm that exists today. A long gap separates its period of current study after 1830 from its 17th century discovery. Whether the original spot dissipated and reformed, whether it faded, or if the observational record

5607-788: The probe designs began to differ substantially from Mariner missions. Voyager 1 was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). It has 16 hydrazine thrusters, three-axis stabilization gyroscopes , and referencing instruments to keep the probe's radio antenna pointed toward Earth . Collectively, these instruments are part of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS), along with redundant units of most instruments and eight backup thrusters. The spacecraft also included 11 scientific instruments to study celestial objects such as planets as it travels through space. The radio communication system of Voyager 1

5696-619: The probe reached the correct trajectory. Jupiter was in a more favorable position vis-à-vis Earth during the launch of Voyager 1 than during the launch of Voyager 2 . Voyager 1 's initial orbit had an aphelion of 8.9 AU (830 million mi), just a little short of Saturn's orbit of 9.5 AU (880 million mi). Voyager 2 ' s initial orbit had an aphelion of 6.2 AU (580 million mi), well short of Saturn's orbit. Voyager 1 began photographing Jupiter in January 1979. Its closest approach to Jupiter

5785-462: The probe's radio signal were used to determine the atmosphere's composition, density, and pressure. Titan's mass was also measured by observing its effect on the probe's trajectory. The thick haze prevented any visual observation of the surface, but the measurement of the atmosphere's composition, temperature, and pressure led to speculation that lakes of liquid hydrocarbons could exist on the surface. Because observations of Titan were considered vital,

5874-515: The same as the modern Great Red Spot observed since 1831. It is suggested that the original spot disappeared, and later another spot formed, which is the one seen today. On 25 February 1979, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft was 9,200,000 km (5,700,000 mi) from Jupiter, it transmitted the first detailed image of the Great Red Spot. Cloud details as small as 160 km (100 mi) across were visible. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern seen to

5963-471: The southward jet movement and showed evidence of an increase in altitude of the column of aerosols with pressures ranging from 200–500 mbar. However, the NH 3 composition data shows that there is a major depletion of NH 3 below the visible cloud layer at the southern peripheral ring of the GRS; this lower opacity is relative to a narrow band of atmospheric subsidence. The low mid-IR aerosol opacity, along with

6052-511: The spacecraft was not changed. It rotated 70 degrees counterclockwise with respect to Earth to detect the solar wind. This was the first time the spacecraft had done any major maneuvering since the Family Portrait photograph of the planets was taken in 1990. After the first roll the spacecraft had no problem in reorienting itself with Alpha Centauri , Voyager 1 's guide star, and it resumed sending transmissions back to Earth. Voyager 1

6141-522: The spacecraft was traveling in the direction of that star, it would take 73,775 years to reach it. ( Voyager 1 is heading in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus .) In late 2012, researchers reported that particle data from the spacecraft suggested that the probe had passed through the heliopause. Measurements from the spacecraft revealed a steady rise since May in collisions with high energy particles (above 70 MeV), which are thought to be cosmic rays emanating from supernova explosions far beyond

6230-421: The spacecraft, so it would now be complex to get them working again. Earth-side software and computers for reading the images are also no longer available. On February 17, 1998, Voyager 1 reached a distance of 69 AU (6.4 billion mi; 10.3 billion km) from the Sun and overtook Pioneer 10 as the most distant spacecraft from Earth. Traveling at about 17 km/s (11 mi/s), it has

6319-504: The spot has decreased with time, perhaps as a direct result of its steady reduction in size. The Great Red Spot's latitude has been stable for the duration of good observational records, typically varying by about a degree. Its longitude , however, is subject to constant variation, including a 90-day longitudinal oscillation with an amplitude of ~1°. Because Jupiter does not rotate uniformly at all latitudes, astronomers have defined three different systems for defining longitude. System II

6408-457: The stagnation region is located approximately 113 AU from the Sun. NASA announced in June 2012 that the probe was detecting changes in the environment that were suspected to correlate with arrival at the heliopause . Voyager 1 had reported a marked increase in its detection of charged particles from interstellar space, which are normally deflected by the solar winds within the heliosphere from

6497-597: The storm from a distance of about 8,000 km (5,000 mi) above the surface. Over the duration of the Juno mission, the spacecraft continued to study the composition and evolution of Jupiter's atmosphere, especially its Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot should not be confused with the Great Dark Spot, a feature observed near the northern pole of Jupiter in 2000 with the Cassini–Huygens spacecraft. There

6586-460: The temperature gradients, the altitude difference, and the vertical movement of the zonal winds, are involved with the development and sustainability of the vorticity. The stronger atmospheric subsidence and compositional asymmetries of the GRS suggest that the structure exhibits a degree of tilt from the northern edge to the southern edge of the structure. The GRS depth and internal structure has been constantly changing over decades; however there

6675-509: The time of launch, with the remainder being dissipated as waste heat. The power output of the RTGs declines over time due to the 87.7-year half-life of the fuel and degradation of the thermocouples, but they will continue to support some of its operations until at least 2025. Unlike Voyager's other instruments, the operation of the cameras for visible light is not autonomous, but is controlled by an imaging parameter table contained in one of

6764-468: The trajectory chosen for Voyager 1 was designed around the optimum Titan flyby, which took it below the south pole of Saturn and out of the plane of the ecliptic , ending its planetary science mission. Had Voyager 1 failed or been unable to observe Titan, Voyager 2 's trajectory would have been altered to incorporate the Titan flyby, precluding any visit to Uranus and Neptune. The trajectory Voyager 1

6853-553: The two spacecraft went on to visit Saturn and its system of moons and rings. Voyager 1 encountered Saturn in November 1980, with the closest approach on November 12, 1980, when the space probe came within 124,000 kilometres (77,000 mi) of Saturn's cloud-tops. The space probe's cameras detected complex structures in the rings of Saturn , and its remote sensing instruments studied the atmospheres of Saturn and its giant moon Titan . Voyager 1 found that about seven percent of

6942-456: The vastly larger region of space populated by bodies that orbit the Sun. The craft is presently less than one-seventh the distance to the aphelion of Sedna , and it has not yet entered the Oort cloud , the source region of long-period comets , regarded by astronomers as the outermost zone of the Solar System. In October 2020, astronomers reported a significant unexpected increase in density in

7031-463: The volume of Saturn's upper atmosphere is helium (compared with 11 percent of Jupiter's atmosphere), while almost all the rest is hydrogen . Since Saturn's internal helium abundance was expected to be the same as Jupiter's and the Sun's, the lower abundance of helium in the upper atmosphere may imply that the heavier helium may be slowly sinking through Saturn's hydrogen; that might explain the excess heat that Saturn radiates over energy it receives from

7120-446: Was at a distance of 121 AU. The apparent magnitude of the Sun from the spacecraft was −16.3 (about 30 times brighter than the full Moon). The spacecraft was traveling at 17.043 km/s (10.590 mi/s) relative to the Sun. At this rate, it would need about 17,565 years at this speed to travel a single light-year . To compare, Proxima Centauri , the closest star to the Sun, is about 4.2 light-years ( 2.65 × 10  AU ) distant. If

7209-590: Was designed to be used up to and beyond the limits of the Solar System . It has a 3.7-metre (12 ft) diameter high-gain Cassegrain antenna to send and receive radio waves via the three Deep Space Network stations on the Earth. The spacecraft normally transmits data to Earth over Deep Space Network Channel 18, using a frequency of either 2.3 GHz or 8.4 GHz, while signals from Earth to Voyager are transmitted at 2.1 GHz. When Voyager 1

7298-403: Was expected to be the last barrier before the spacecraft exited the Solar System completely and entered interstellar space. In March 2013, it was announced that Voyager 1 might have become the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space, having detected a marked change in the plasma environment on August 25, 2012. However, until September 12, 2013, it was still an open question as to whether

7387-427: Was expected to enter interstellar space "at any time". Voyager 2 was still detecting outward flow of solar wind at that point but it was estimated that in the following months or years it would experience the same conditions as Voyager 1 . The spacecraft was reported at 12.44° declination and 17.163 hours right ascension, and at an ecliptic latitude of 34.9° (the ecliptic latitude changes very slowly), placing it in

7476-521: Was launched into would not have allowed it to continue on to Uranus and Neptune, but could have been altered to avoid a Titan flyby and travel from Saturn to Pluto , arriving in 1986. On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 took the first " family portrait " of the Solar System as seen from outside, which includes the image of planet Earth known as Pale Blue Dot . Soon afterward, its cameras were deactivated to conserve energy and computer resources for other equipment. The camera software has been removed from

7565-515: Was moving with a relative velocity to the Sun of about 61,197 kilometres per hour (38,026 mph). With the velocity the probe is currently maintaining, Voyager 1 is traveling about 523 million km (325 million mi) per year, or about one light-year per 18,000 years. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory believe that Voyager 1 entered

7654-403: Was on March 5, 1979, at a distance of about 349,000 kilometres (217,000 miles) from the planet's center. Because of the greater photographic resolution allowed by a closer approach, most observations of the moons, rings, magnetic fields, and the radiation belt environment of the Jovian system were made during the 48-hour period that bracketed the closest approach. Voyager 1 finished photographing

7743-407: Was provided by thermal-IR imaging: a direct correlation of the visible cloud layers reactions, thermal gradient and compositional mapping to observational data were collected over decades. During December 2000, high spatial resolution images from Galileo, of an atmospheric turbulent area to the northwest of the GRS, showed a thermal contrast between the warmest region of the anticyclone and regions to

7832-413: Was required because Voyager 1 's plasma spectrometer had stopped working in 1980. In September 2013, NASA released recordings of audio transductions of these plasma waves, the first to be measured in interstellar space. While Voyager 1 is commonly spoken of as having left the Solar System simultaneously with having left the heliosphere, the two are not the same. The Solar System is usually defined as

7921-573: Was simply poor is unknown. The first sighting of the Great Red Spot is often credited to Robert Hooke , who described a spot on the planet in May 1664. However, it is likely that Hooke's spot was not only in another belt altogether (the North Equatorial Belt, as opposed to the current Great Red Spot's location in the South Equatorial Belt ), but also that it was in the shadow of a transiting moon, most likely Callisto . Far more convincing

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