Cassini

Dark UV ovals were first detected by Hubble in the late 1990s at the north and south poles and subsequently at the north pole by the Cassini spacecraft that flew by Jupiter in 2000, but they drew little attention.

Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot has persisted for at least 190 years and is likely a different spot from the one observed by the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1665, a new study reports.

"From the measurements of sizes and movements, we deduced that it is highly unlikely that the current Great Red Spot was the 'Permanent Spot' observed by Cassini," said Agustín Sánchez-Lavega, a planetary scientist at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, who led this research.

In 1665, Cassini discovered a dark oval at the same latitude as today's Great Red Spot and named it the "Permanent Spot," as he and other astronomers observed it until 1713, when they lost track of it.

"It has been very motivating and inspiring to turn to the notes and drawings of Jupiter and its Permanent Spot made by the great astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini, and to his articles of the second half of the 17th century describing the phenomenon," Sánchez-Lavega said.