Here's Looking At You: Spooky Shadow Play Gives Jupiter a Giant Eye

This happened on April 21, 2014, when Hubble was being used to monitor changes in Jupiter's immense Great Red Spot (GRS) storm. During the exposures, the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede swept across the center of the GRS. This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the center of a 10,000-mile-diameter “eye.” Momentarily, Jupiter took on the appearance of a Cyclops planet!

Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)

Acknowledgment: C. Go and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

For images and more information, visit:

http://hubblesite.org/news/2014/31

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

http://heritage.stsci.edu/2014/31

For additional information, contact:

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514
villard@stsci.edu

Amy Simon
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-6738
amy.simon@nasa.gov

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.