New View of Jupiter Reveals A Creepy 'Eye'

October 28, 2014 4:34 PM EDT

Earlier this year the Hubble Telescope made this eerie image of what appears to be a hole in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, commonly referred to as GRS, which almost resembles an eye.

The ‘hole,’ it turns out, was actually just a well-timed shadow, captured by one of Hubble’s cameras as Jupiter’s moon Ganymede passed by.

GRS is a massive, ongoing storm within Jupiter’s atmosphere that would be similar to a hurricane on earth. The red spot may appear relatively small from our vantage point, but is so large that three earths could fit within its boundaries.

However, the Great Red Spot may not be so fearsome in years to come, as scientists have observed the spot’s decline in size since the 1930’s.

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The Witch Head Nebula This infrared image shows the Witch Head nebula hundreds of light-years away in the Orion constellation, taken by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The clouds of the nebula, where baby stars are brewing, are being lit up by massive stars. Dust in the cloud is hit with starlight, causing it to glow with infrared light. NASA/JPL-Caltech

**The Reflection Nebula** Reflection nebulae do not emit light on their own, they are illuminated by a light source embedded within. The bright, young star left of center gives NGC 1999 its brightness. The gas and dust of the nebula is left over from the star's formation.NASA/The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI)

Black Widow Nebula Hides in the DustIn this Spitzer image, the two opposing bubbles are being formed in opposite directions by the powerful outflows from massive groups of forming stars. The baby stars can be seen as specks of yellow where the two bubbles overlap. When individual stars form from molecular clouds of gas and dust they produce intense radiation and very strong particle winds. Both the radiation and the stellar winds blow the dust outward from the star creating a cavity or bubble. In the case of the Black Widow Nebula, astronomers suspect that a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to create multiple clusters of massive star formation. The combined winds from these groups of large stars probably blew out bubbles into the direction of least resistance, forming a double bubble. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Wisc. — **The Black Widow Nebula** Astronomers suspect that a large cloud of gas and dust condensed to create multiple clusters of massive star formations in the Black Widow nebula. The combined winds from these groups of large stars likely blew out bubbles into the direction of least resistance, forming a double bubble which appear as the spider's legs. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Wisc.

English: The large disk of gas surrounding Fomalhaut is clearly visible in this image. It is not centred on Fomalhaut quite as predicted, hinting that the gravity of another body – perhaps a planet – is pulling it out of shape.Date 13 November 2008Source http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/html/heic0821c.html (direct link)http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/image/b/Author NASA, ESA and P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley, USA) — **Great Eye of Sauron** The large disk of gas surrounding Fomalhaut, dubbed the 'Great Eye of Sauron' by *New Scientist* magazine, is clearly visible in this image. Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.NASA/ESA/P. Kalas (University of California, Berkeley, USA)

NGC 2467 and Surroundings* — **Franken Nebula** The stellar cluster NGC 2467, also known as *Franken Nebula*, is located in the southern constellation of Puppis. NGC 2467 is a very active stellar nursery, where new stars are born continuously from large clouds of dust and gas.ESO

A NASA photo taken Oct. 8 appears to look like Jack-O-Lantern.NASA/GSFC/SDO — **Jack-o-Lantern Sun** Active regions on the sun combined to resemble a jack-o-lantern’s face on Oct. 8, 2014. The active regions in this image appear brighter because they emit more light and energy.NASA/GSFC/SDO

**Jupiter's Giant Eye** On April 21, 2014, when Hubble was being used to monitor changes in Jupiter's immense Great Red Spot (GRS) storm, the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede swept across the center of the GRS giving the giant planet the appearance of having a pupil in the center of a 10,000-mile-diameter "eye." NASA/ESA/A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)

**Spooky Sprite** In this image of LBN 438 nebula, dubbed *Spooky Sprite* by astronomer Adam Block, the cloud of dust glows both from scattered starlight and extended red emission due to the radiation of some nearby star. Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter

A supernova remnant in the Milky Way about 13,000 light years from Earth. — **Zombie Star** Tycho's supernova remnant is perhaps the most famous of the Type Ia supernovae, known as 'zombie' stars, which are white dwarves that feed off of stellar neighbors.Chandra X-ray Observatory Center/X-ray: NASA/CXC/Rutgers/K.Erik

SH2-136 The Ghosts of CepheusThe Ghosts of Cepheus present a cosmic view with the chiaroscuro that the oldgreat painters might have applied to their canvases. Here a few bright starsilluminate an otherwise dark and cold molecular cloud of gas and dust some1,200 light years away. Their ghoulish and scalloped shapes are as surprisingas they are rare in other similar clouds. Note the conical outflows on theright side of the cloud where a star is forming and blowing dust from deepwithin.Summer 2011 — **The Ghosts of Cepheus** In this image of SH2-136 nebula, also known as the Ghosts of Cepheus, a few bright stars illuminate an otherwise dark and cold molecular cloud of gas and dust some 1,200 light years away.Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter

October 2012NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula — **Wizard Nebula** NGC 7380, also known as the Wizard Nebula, is a star-forming region surrounding a cluster of young stars. Radiation from the developing stars lights up the nebula.Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter

A New View of Jupiter Reveals ‘Eye’ of its Storm

See the Spookiest Space Photos

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