Jupiter loses one of its stripes and scientists are stumped as to why

Mail online ^ | 05/12/2010 | Claire Bates

[Frenchtown Dan]

Jupiter has lost one of its iconic red stripes and scientists are baffled as to why. The largest planet in our solar system is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere, with one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere. However, the most recent images taken by amateur astronomers have revealed the lower stripe known as the Southern Equatorial Belt has disappeared leaving the southern half of the planet looking unusually bare. The band was present in at the end of last year before Jupiter ducked behind the Sun on its orbit. However, when it emerged.....

[Frenchtown Dan]

Very interesting and mysterious. The Sun's effect?

[massmike]

global warming!

[MarkLevinFan]

It’s Bush’s fault!

[pgkdan]

Nibiru did it! Uh Oh! ;-)

[oh8eleven]

Jupiter loses one of its stripes ...
Court martial?

[Cailleach]

So, Jupiter dropped trou and is mooning us?!

[Frenchtown Dan]

That’s da fact Jack!

Bill Murray - Stripes.

[Frenchtown Dan]

Our Gov’t has been mooning us enough!

[Frenchtown Dan]

More likely cooling.
At least on planet Earth. Been cold in the Northeast lately.

Jupiter too?

[ETL]

"It is not the first time this unusual phenomenon has been noticed. Jupiter loses or regains one of its belts every ten of 15 years, although exactly why this happens is a mystery.

The planet is a giant ball of gas and liquid around 500million miles from the Sun. It's surface is composed of dense red, brown, yellow, and white clouds arranged in light-coloured areas called zones and darker regions called belts.

These clouds are created by chemicals that have formed at different heights. The highest white clouds in the zones are made of crystals of frozen ammonia. Darker, lower clouds are created from chemicals including sulphur and phosphorus. The clouds are blown into bands by 350mph winds caused by Jupiter's rapid rotation.

Noted Jupiter watcher Anthony Wesley, who spotted an impact spot on its surface last year, has tracked the disappearing belt from his back garden in Australia.

'It was obvious last year that it was fading. It was closely observed by anyone watching Jupiter,' he told The Planetary Society.

'There was a big rush on to find out what had changed once it came back into view.'

Mr Wesley said while it was a mystery as to what had caused the belt to fade, the most likely explanation was that it was linked to storm activity that preceded the change.

'The question now is when will the South Equatorial belt erupt back into activity and reappear?' Mr Wesley said."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1277734/Jupiter-loses-stripes-scientists-idea-why.html

[LearnsFromMistakes]

Maybe someone took Jupiter and replaced it with a cheap fake...

[Frenchtown Dan]

Pretty cool.

Aparently it’s been no big secret within the scientific community. It’s the first I heard of it, and I was surprised.

A little side track from the daily grind.

[Frenchtown Dan]

It’s afraid of being taxed to death, and is hiding it’s assets.

[WayneS]

Maybe a leopard really CAN change its shorts.

[Tupelo]

Jupiter loses one of its stripes ...
Court martial?

Naa. Don't really take too much to lose one stripe. A good drunk and fight can do it. Caught in bed with a dog could lose several. Caught with an officer's guarantees loss of all of them.

[ETL]

I hadn’t heard about it either, and I’m an amateur astronomer. Might be because Jupiter is only visible in the wee hours of the morning these days, rising at something like 3:30AM. In any case, it looks like the Great Red Spot, at least so far, has been unaffected, although the belt’s disappearance was preceded by new storm activity within it.

[oh8eleven]

Don't really take too much to lose one stripe.
Nonjudicial Punishment - Article 15 .... been there, done that, but didn't lose any stripes :>)

[FrogMom]

Wonder if the socialists taxed it away?

[bmwcyle]

Solar System Cooling

[al_c]

Maybe Jupiter finally realized that boob-belts were not all that fashionable after all.