Posted on 06/12/2015 3:29:54 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Maybe it’s too soon for a pity party, but the profound changes in the size and prominence of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) in the past 100 years has me worried. After Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s big bloody eye is one of astronomy’s most iconic sights.
This titanic hurricane-like storm has charmed earthlings since Giovanni Cassini first spotted it in the mid-1600s. Will our grandchildren turn their telescopes to Jove only to see a pale pink oval like so many others rolling around the planet’s South Tropical Zone?
,,,
An inspired image prompted this sad train of thought. UK astrophotographer Damian Peach came up with an ideal way to depict how the GRS would look to us now if it we could see it as it was in 1890, 125 years ago. Those were the glory days for the “Eye of Jupiter” as Cassini was fond of calling it. With a diameter of 22,370 miles (36,000 km), the GRS spanned nearly three Earths wide. What a sight it must have been in nearly any telescope.
Peach compared measurements of the Spot in black and white photos taken at Lick Observatory in California in 1890-91 with a photo he took on April 13 this year. He then manipulated his April 13 data using the Lick photos and WINJUPOS (Jupiter feature measuring program) to carefully match the storm to its dimensions and appearance 125 years ago. Voila! Now we have a good idea of what we missed by being born too late.
“A century ago, it truly was deserving of its name!” wrote Peach.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
At left, A crude photograph of Jupiter’s enormous Great Red Spot in 1879 from Agnes Clerk’s Book ” A History of Astronomy in the 19th Century”.
Storms wind down. As does everything else (except God, who is not subject to entropy).
Incidentally, did anyone every figure out why the spot is red?
“It has been suggested that certain compounds of phosphorous are responsible for the reddish-brown hue, but this remains somewhat speculative.”
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/redspot.html
Thanks.
Thanks BenLurkin, extra to APoD.
Juno will be there in a little over a year from now.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html
"Dude, we like soo need to control greenhouse
gaseous here on Earth! They didn't on Jupiter...
Now they're paying the price!"
Actually, it’s global warming.
For real. All the planets are showing signs of heating up.
What, Al Gore isn’t talking about that?
It’s all the Damn Jupiterian Made Climate Disruption I tell ya! They have been burning fossil fuels for decades with little concern about the damage to Mother Jupiter’s natural climate.
Probably the White Devil Jupiterians. They are the worst of them!
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