PIA02223: Neptune's small dark spot (D2)

Target Name: Neptune Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun) Mission: Voyager Spacecraft: Voyager 2 Instrument: Imaging Science Subsystem - Narrow Angle Product Size: 936 samples x 725 lines Produced By: JPL Producer ID: P34708 Primary Data Set: Voyager EDRs Full-Res TIFF: PIA02223.tif (504.5 kB) Full-Res JPEG: PIA02223.jpg (169.6 kB)

Original Caption Released with Image: This bulls-eye view of Neptune's small dark spot (D2) was obtained by Voyager 2's narrow-angle camera. Banding surrounding the feature indicates unseen strong winds, while structures within the bright spot suggest both active upwelling of clouds and rotation about the center. A rotation rate has not yet been measured, but the V-shaped structure near the right edge of the bright area indicates that the spot rotates clockwise. Unlike the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, which rotates counterclockwise, if the D2 spot on Neptune rotates clockwise, the material will be descending in the dark oval region. The fact that infrared data will yield temperature information about the region above the clouds makes this observation especially valuable. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications. Image Credit: NASA/JPL