Hubble Telescope Latest Observations Reveal Neptune's Weird Dark Spot Acting Stranger Than Before

Astronomers claimed that Neptune's weird dark spot is now acting stranger than before. The researchers also found a smaller vortex which they call "Dark Spot J."

Neptune is one of the planets in the solar system with the strangest weather. It holds the record for the fastest winds, with speeds cutting through the atmosphere upward of 1,000 miles per hour.

However, Hubble Telescope's latest observations revealed that there is a smaller dark spot called Dark Spot Jr. The scientists believe that this smaller storm is from the main storm.

Although the vortexes stand out against the dizzying blue planet, they have short life spans. This issue makes them even harder to study. On the other hand, the Voyager 2 spacecraft also observed two storms in 1990.

The spaceship also revealed a similar observation since it also found a smaller companion close to the original Dark Spot. This storm is about the size of the Earth.

"When we were tracking the great dark spot with Voyager, we saw it oscillating up and down in longitude," said Heidi Hammel, a Voyager 2 space probe's member, via The New York Times.

"We had enough time on Voyager, that we were able to track the feature for something like four to five months leading up to the flyby. That storm was huge, a big monster," she added.

Astronomers found out how the Dark Spot's maximum age

When the Voyager astronomers were about to use the Hubble Telescope to observe the huge Dark Spot, the storm vanished four years later. Because of this information, the scientists concluded that the Dark Spot usually lasts from two to five years. Its size also depends on how long it is ravaging in Neptune's atmosphere.

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Written by: Giuliano de Leon.