Extraterrestrial cyclone
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Extraterrestrial cyclones are cyclones found on other planets.
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[edit] Venus
Venus has two large long-lived pairs of inverted anticyclones, one pair near each pole (polar vortexes), discovered in 2007 by the Venus Express probe.
[edit] Mars
On April 27, 1999, a rare cyclone 1,100 miles in diameter was detected by the Hubble Space Telescope in the northern polar region of Mars. It consisted of three cloud bands wrapped around a massive 200 mile diameter eye, and contained features similar to storms that have been detected in the poles of Earth. It was only observed briefly, as it seemed to be dissipating when it was imaged six hours later, and was not seen on later imaging passes. [1] Several other cyclones were imaged in about the same area, like the March 2, 2001 cyclone, 19 January 2003 cyclone, 27 November 2004 cyclone (Dust devils have also been observed on Mars.)
[edit] Jupiter
The Great Red Spot is by far, the largest extraterrestrial anticyclone (or cyclone) known. It is so large that about 2-3 Earths could fit inside it. The Great Red Spot has existed on Jupiter for at least 340 years[1]. In the image at the left, the Great Red Spot can be seen near the top center. The Great Red Spot has turned dull pink, to bright red, but has not yet dissipated and is not likely to do so in the near future.
Oval BA (or Red Spot Jr.) is a remnant formed from the merger of multiple white ovals. It is located just to the south of the Great Red Spot and has been increasing in strength.
[edit] Saturn
In October 11, 2006, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft took photos of a storm with a well-defined distinct eyewall over the South Pole. It was 8000 kilometres across, with storms in the eyewall reaching 70 km high. The storm had windspeeds of 550 km per hour and seemed to be stationary over the South Pole. [2]
In addition, several storms like the Great White Spot occasionally appear on the surface of Saturn, becoming large enough to be spotted by telescopes on Earth.
There is also a long-lived storm known as the Dragon Storm, which flares occasionally.
[edit] Neptune
[edit] Great Dark Spot
The Great Dark Spot is an anticyclone (possibly an atmospheric hole, similar to the ozone hole) discovered by Voyager 2 in 1989. It is approximately the same size as Eurasia.
[edit] Small Dark Spot
The Wizard's Eye (sometimes called Great Dark Spot 2) is another cyclone on Neptune. It is about one third the diameter of the Great Dark Spot. It received the name "Wizard's Eye" because it looks like an eye. This appearance is caused by a white cloud in the middle of the Wizard's Eye.
