Hubble telescope caught in staring contest with Jupiter

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Recently, while observing changes in Jupiter's most famous atmospheric cyclone, the swirling Great Red Spot, Hubble found itself caught in the eye of the storm, so to speak.

As the telescope honed in on Jupiter's red spot, one of the planet's 69 moons, Ganymede, passed between Jupiter and the sun, casting a perfectly round shadow.

For a brief moment, the moon's shadow intersected the Great Red Spot -- adding a pupil to Jupiter's iconic storm. The Hubble Space Telescope found itself in a staring contest.

"For a moment, Jupiter 'stared' back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops," officials at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center wrote in a caption for the newly captured image.