New Storms on Jupiter Look Like Mickey Mouse

By Nancy Atkinson - March 25, 2014 at 5:26 PM UTC | Planetary Science
2014_02_25storm.jpg

We told you

this was going to be a good season to observe Jupiter

, and astrophotographers in the northern hemisphere have been making the most of this time of opposition where Jupiter has been riding high in the sky. What we didn't know was that there was going to be a familiar face staring back at us.

A combination of three storms has been noted throughout this Jupiter observing season for its resemblance to Mickey Mouse's face (at least in outline), and astrophotographer Damian Peach has captured some great images of these storms, along with the iconic Great Red Spot, its little brother Oval BA and other turbulence. Damian has also put together a stunning movie (below) showing about three hours of rotation of the king of the planets.

Damian explained the Mickey Mouse storms are two anticyclones (high pressure regions) that form the ears while a longer elongated cyclone (low pressure) forms the face.

The abundance of storms on Jupiter are a result of the planet's dense atmosphere of hydrogen and helium and large gravitational field. Storms on this planet are likely the strongest in the Solar System.

Jupiter reached its most northern point for 2014 at a declination of +23.3 degrees on March 11, but it's still easily visible since it is the brightest starlike object in the evening sky.

[caption id="attachment_110737" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Jupiter's Great Red Spot and the 'Mickey Mouse' storms on February 25, 2014. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach. [/caption]

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More images of Jupiter on February 25, 2014, with these showing the Oval BA storm, with the Mickey Mouse storms peeking around the left side. Credit and copyright: Damian Peach. [/caption]

As David Dickinson mentioned in

his article on observing Jupiter

, we're also in the midst of a plane crossing, as the orbits of the Jovian moons appear edge-on to our line of sight throughout 2014 and into early 2015.

Damian captured this great transit of Europa earlier in February:

Check out more of Damian Peach's work at his website.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com