Path: santra!tut!draken!kth!mcvax!uunet!lll-winken!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!GROUCH.JPL.NASA.GOV!PJS
From: PJS@GROUCH.JPL.NASA.GOV (Peter Scott)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Voyager update
Message-ID: <890502154717.00001CA5541@grouch.JPL.NASA.GOV>
Date: 2 May 89 23:47:17 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 37

Excerpted from NASA's _Voyager Bulletin_, Mission Status Report No. 86,
April 19: 

                       Does Neptune have a Great Spot?
                       -------------------------------

A large dark spot and a dark band encircling the south polar region of Neptune
are visible in images acquired 90 minutes apart by Voyager 2 on April 3,
from a distance of 208 million km (129 million miles).  The spot rotates
around the planet in 17 to 18 hours.

[...] The spot extends from 20 degrees south to 30 degrees south latitude, and
spans 35 degrees in longitude [3 pictures are printed].  Relative to the size
of Neptune, the dimensions of the spot are comparable to Jupiter's Great Red
Spot. 

The images were taken through the narrow-angle camera's clear filter, which is
most sensitive to blue light. The spot is 10% darker than its surroundings. The
smallest object that can be seen in these images is about 3850 km (2400 miles)
across. 

Scientists have not yet determined whether this is the same spot seen in images
taken 70 days earlier in late January.  The spot seen in the January images
appears dark through the clear filter but bright through the orange filter.
Features seen through the orange filter may be at higher altitudes than those
visible in these most recent images.  [...] 

[Then there is an article about how the VLA in New Mexico is being arrayed with
the Goldstone antennae to augment the DSN: "... Use of the VLA will add the
equivalent of about one and a half 70-meter antennas to the Network." The VLA
is being upgraded with X-band receivers.  "Data from the VLA will be routed to
Goldstone via a microwave link using a geosynchronous satellite. At Goldstone
the signals received at VLA and Goldstone will be combined. The data will be
recorded at both sites to prevent loss of data should the satellite link
fail."] 

Peter Scott (pjs@grouch.jpl.nasa.gov)