Jupiter: New blotch discovered on planet's cloud surface by amateur astronomer

An amateur astronomer from South Africa has recently spotted a new feature on the visible cloud surface of Jupiter. According to reports, Clyde Foster spotted this new blotch above the clouds of Jupiter, this new discovery has been named ‘Clyde’s Spot,’ after the individual that discovered it and is located between Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot and S2-AWO A7, another blotch to the southeast of Clyde’s Spot.

At the right place at the right time

According to reports, the new blotch was discovered by Foster on May 31. Foster was looking at Jupiter using an advanced filter that is highly sensitive to methane gas, Foster seems to have been lucky with his timing because according to Australian astronomers the blotch was not there hours before Foster discovered it.

According to reports, in a bit of luck, NASA’s Juno spacecraft was scheduled to make its 27th flyby of Jupiter only days after the discovery of Clyde’s Spot on June 2 and was thus, able to get a clear picture of Jupiter during its fly-by, thereby giving Foster and other researchers more information about what exactly Clyde’s spot is.

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According to Foster, Clyde’s Spot is a plume of clouds that seems to extend above Jupiter’s cloud layers making it easily detectable by instruments that are sensitive to methane gas. NASA’s Juno will be making another close fly-by Jupiter on July 25 allowing it to take another clear picture of the blotch and giving valuable information about how the gas storm has changed after days and weeks since its discovery.

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