A backyard sky watcher had captured an impressive picture of Jupiter. Jamie Cooper, 53, observed the spectacle from his home in Whilton, Northamptonshire, on Sunday (7 Aug). He explains: "I took it from my home with a Skywatcher 300PDS Newtonian telescope. "Jupiter is very well placed in UK skies over the next few months - a bright star-like object in the eastern skies easily seen with the naked eye. "In the centre of my image is the famous "Great Red Spot" - a huge anticyclonic storm that's been raging for at least 200 years and is 10,000 miles in diameter." Fifth in line from the Sun, Jupiter is, by far, the largest planet in the solar system – more than twice as massive as all the other planets combined. Jupiter's familiar stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. The iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth.
