PIA00052: Neptune Great Dark Spot in High Resolution
Target Name: Neptune
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: Voyager
Spacecraft: Voyager 2
Instrument: Imaging Science Subsystem - Narrow Angle
Product Size: 700 samples x 852 lines
Produced By: JPL
Producer ID: P34672
Addition Date: 1999-08-30
Primary Data Set: Voyager EDRs
Full-Res TIFF: PIA00052.tif (978.8 kB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA00052.jpg (73.88 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This photograph shows the last face on view of the Great Dark Spot that Voyager will make with the narrow angle camera. The image was shuttered 45 hours before closest approach at a distance of 2.8 million kilometers (1.7 million miles). The smallest structures that can be seen are of an order of 50 kilometers (31 miles). The image shows feathery white clouds that overlie the boundary of the dark and light blue regions. The pinwheel (spiral) structure of both the dark boundary and the white cirrus suggest a storm system rotating counterclockwise. Periodic small scale patterns in the white cloud, possibly waves, are short lived and do not persist from one Neptunian rotation to the next. This color composite was made from the clear and green filters of the narrow-angle camera. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1999-08-30