PIA00048: Neptune - Great Dark Spot and Scooter
Target Name: Neptune
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: Voyager
Spacecraft: Voyager 2
Instrument: Imaging Science Subsystem - Narrow Angle
Product Size: 1200 samples x 1297 lines
Produced By: JPL
Producer ID: P34632
Addition Date: 1996-01-29
Primary Data Set: Voyager EDRs
Full-Res TIFF: PIA00048.tif (1.924 MB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA00048.jpg (55.04 kB)

Click on the image to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly cropped or reduced in size from original).

Original Caption Released with Image:
This image of clouds in Neptune's atmosphere is the first that tests the accuracy of the weather forecast that was made eight days earlier to select targets for the Voyager narrow angle camera. Three of the four targeted features are visible in this photograph; all three are close to their predicted locations. The Great Dark Spot with its bright white companion is slightly to the left of center. The small bright Scooter is below and to the left, and the second dark spot with its bright core is below the Scooter. Strong eastward winds up to 400 mph cause the second dark spot to overtake and pass the larger one every five days. The spacecraft was 6.1 million kilometers (3.8 million miles) from the planet at the time of camera shuttering, and the images uses the orange, green and clear filters of the camera. The Voyager Mission is conducted by JPL for NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1996-01-29