However, Galileo's photopolarimeter radiometer instrument showed this feature had cooled down to temperatures that were about the same as its surroundings. Orton suspects that this storm somehow lost power and is no longer spinning as fast or downwelling as strongly as a year ago. This storm was once positioned between the two smaller white ovals that merged, and Orton theorized that when this storm system lost power, it removed the buffering mechanism that kept the two original white ovals apart. Although much data from the flyby of Europa in that time period was lost because of a problem with the spacecraft's gyroscope, Galileo's photopolarimeter radiometer gathered the new data on the white ovals before the anomaly occurred. The photopolarimeter radiometer measures temperature profiles and energy balance of Jupiter's atmosphere, helping scientists study the huge planet's cloud characteristics and composition.
Scientists believe that the bright, visible clouds of the white ovals are composed of ammonia.
Related images and information on the Galileo mission are available on the Internet at the Galileo website .