Juno orbiter’s view of a beautiful brownish spot on Jupiter sparks a bit of potty humor

This cloud formation on Jupiter is called “Mr. Hankey.” (NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill)

Jupiter’s titanic storms have spawned their share of memorable cloud features, including the Great Red Spot, Oval BA (a.k.a. Red Jr.) and the now-defunct Baby Red Spot. Now there’s a new spot on the map, nicknamed “Mr. Hankey.”

Mr. Hankey? The jolly cartoon poo made famous in a “South Park” Christmas episode?

Believe it: The longish, brownish storm system was the star of the show during last Thursday’s close encounter involving Jupiter and NASA’s Juno orbiter. In the days since the encounter, known as Perijove 15, the probe has been sending back Junocam’s imagery for processing by a legion of professional and amateur astronomers.

It was Kevin Gill, a software engineer and self-described data wrangler at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who gave the spot its “South Park” sobriquet in a tweet. But if you want to call the scene Jet N4, that’s OK, too.

In addition to Mr. Hankey, Perijove 15 yielded some great views of the complex, blue-tinged cloud patterns in Jupiter’s mid-northern latitudes and north polar region. Here’s a Twitter smorgasbord:

Detail and turbulence visible southwest of Mr. Hankey on Jupiter (North to the lower right), @NASAJuno Perijove 15 pic.twitter.com/BC9g2OtVV8

— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) September 10, 2018

The North Pole of Jupiter, @NASAJuno Perijove 15 https://t.co/37w5zJnN4yhttps://t.co/0XHDbDJufQhttps://t.co/ESuUMooXLwhttps://t.co/Y28YxbIw0o pic.twitter.com/keYmfMuY9o

— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) September 9, 2018

Juno, Perijove 15 (2018-09-07), imgs. #18, #19 & #22

(NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Gustavo BC) pic.twitter.com/dim4FuHBKZ

— Gustavo BC (@_Gustavobc) September 10, 2018

Jupiter, Perijove 15 early sequence @NASAJuno
[Eichstädt/Doran]
8k: https://t.co/He1OZC240R pic.twitter.com/Bj7wwr0XMN

— Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) September 8, 2018

Ya hay imágenes del perijove 15; híjole, cómo se las arregla Júpiter para ser siempre tan hermoso: pic.twitter.com/PiOTZxd6lg

— Surada