Posted on 07/13/2008 1:17:31 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
As Jupiter reached opposition earlier this week, it put on a spectacular show of cannibalism for anyone viewing with modest telescopes.
Planetary specialists around the world have been watching with bated breath as a cataclysmic encounter between Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS), Oval BA (Red, Jr.), and the newly discovered Little Red Spot (LRS) unfolded at the beginning of July. Though encounters such as this are relatively common on the gas giant, this event was greatly anticipated because the LRS was strong enough to dredge up material from deeper within Jupiter's atmosphere, imbuing it with the same reddish color as the GRS and Oval BA.
As the three storms converged on July 1, LRS appeared to be rapidly squeezed between the GRS and Oval BA. Images recorded through methane filters which accentuate upper-atmosphere details showed all three spots as individual features as late as July 7th, leading some to conclude that LRS had survived the encounter.
However, amateur Christopher Go of Cebu City, Philippines, captured high-resolution pictures on July 10 that appear to put an end to the speculation. His image shows no sign of the LRS, and methane images show only the GRS and Oval BA.
Major observatories including the Hubble Space Telescope booked time to capture the happenings this week. Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center says "Little spots typically appear at the GRS' latitude, and eventually get eaten. Usually, they move faster than the GRS and approach it from the east. What's different with this one is that the GRS caught up with it, it got pulled around the south of the GRS, and then up to the east side. We'll have to model the timing and other aspects of the HST data to see what it can tell us."
Events like this were beyond the reach of all but a small handful of amateurs as recently as a decade ago. With the advent of highly sensitive specialized webcams, more and more amateurs are able to contribute valuable data to the study of our neighboring worlds.
It would seem that Hurricanes on Earth would attract to each other due to pressure. Has this ever been observed?
New Hubble, Keck images show turbulent Jupiter
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/05/22_redspots.shtml
Robert Sanders, Media Relations | 22 May 2008
BERKELEY – Increased turbulence and storms first observed on Jupiter more than two years ago are still raging, according to astronomers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, who snapped high-resolution pictures of the planet earlier this month.
Captured with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the 10-meter Keck II telescope, this so-called “major upheaval” on Jupiter involves stunning changes in the planet’s atmosphere, said lead astronomer Imke de Pater, professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley.
The images are available on NASA’s HubbleSite NewsCenter.
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/23
The upheaval was heralded in December 2005 by a color change from white to red of a large oval near the Great Red Spot, earning it the moniker Red Spot Jr. This oval, formally known as Oval BA, formed six years earlier through a merger of three large white ovals just south of the Great Red Spot - storms that formed in the early 1930s and were prominent in the Voyager era.
Major upheavels and stunning changes to Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Must be the carbon burning space probes.
not sure on the observed part,, meteorologically, the atmosphere is still something we can look at and thru but still not completely understand how it works... certainly not for lack of study after study ..
When Hurricanes Collide
make that
When Little Red Spots get popped like a pimple
Global warming has reach for sure. Will the lefties blame this one of Bush as well? The Great OZ has spoken.
Bush failed to press for ratification of the Kyoto Accords.
See what happens?
/sarcasm
The presence of methane, a hydrocarbon, on Jupiter must be “proof” that dinasaurs once roamed Jupiter! Today a substantial amount of the earth’s petroleum deposits may very well be composed of recycled ancient plants and animals, but I happen to believe that planets in our solar system having the elements hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and sulfur also have a mechanism for creating petroleum from them even if these elements were not associated with plant or animal life. Thus it may be entirely possible that the earth’s petroleum supply is not finite because the total amounts of these elements are unchanging.
When comet Halley came by during 1988 the Europeans (NOT nasa) took close up pictures of it. They saw a black part that was much bigger than what they thought the comet should be. They discovered a surprise: the comet was 4 times bigger in size than they had thought. That meant it was 4 cubed times more massive, or about 64 times.
It was black because it was covered with a dirty, tar-like material. Their sensors found it was "kerogen", CH2.5 polymer, which is something like oil shale.
Dammit, you beat me.
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New red spot appears on Jupiter
Astronomy Magazine website | May 22, 2008 | University of California, Berkeley
Posted on 05/24/2008 7:35:39 AM PDT by theFIRMbss
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2020697/posts
Third Red Spot Erupts On Jupiter
New Scientist | 5-22-2008 | David Shiga
Posted on 05/22/2008 10:21:40 AM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2019773/posts
Jupiter’s Little Red Spot Growing Stronger
ScienceDaily | Saturday, October 14, 2006 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Posted on 10/14/2006 5:05:01 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1719531/posts
Jovian Storms Prepare To Duke It Out
space.com | 06/05/06 | Ker Than
Posted on 06/05/2006 7:27:35 PM PDT by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1644036/posts
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Has Companion
NY Times | May 5, 2006 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Posted on 05/07/2006 11:05:13 AM PDT by neverdem
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1628232/posts
Hubble Snaps Baby Pictures of Jupiter’s “Red Spot Jr.”
Hubble Site | May 4, 2006
Posted on 05/04/2006 1:44:15 PM PDT by orionblamblam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1626867/posts
Surprise! Jupiter Has A New Red Spot
Space.com | 03 March 2006 | Tony Phillips
Posted on 03/03/2006 1:37:18 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1589540/posts
The Great Dark Spot
Science@NASA | March 12, 2003 | Dr. Tony Phillips
Posted on 03/13/2003 7:52:07 AM PST by forsnax5
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/863768/posts
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Io Creates Spots on Jupiter
(glowing spots come from electron beams whipping around moon Io)
Space.com on Yahoo | 3/17/08 | Charles Q. Choi
Posted on 03/17/2008 8:17:23 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1987385/posts
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