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New Blue Ring On Jupiter Puzzles Astronomers On: Mon March, 8 2004 @ 07:28 GMT Something interesting is happening on the planet Jupiter, and astronomers are not yet sure what it could mean. About two weeks ago, a Spanish amateur astronomer noticed a large blue streak in the southern hemisphere of the planet. The blue streak, which is 3-4 times the diameter of the earth, has now stretched around the planet forming a blue ring. An Amazing Disturbance In Jupiter's Clouds..... It is a very elongated, bluish streak that runs along the interface of the dark South Equatorial Belt. The first hint that that something unusual was taking place in the cloudy Jovian atmosphere came from Spanish amateur when he reported that a small, bicolored feature was formingt in the Southern Hemisphere a little over2 weeks ago. NOW, this disturbance has stretched, what looks like, right around the planet! At the moment it's too early to be sure of the nature of this disturbance or its potential evolution. The wide band shown on the photograph could, quite easily measure, 3-4 times the diameter of the Earth! Although Jupiter has, in the past, produced some unusual upper cloud features, nothing like this has ever been seen before! This is still breaking news. Currently scientists are still waiting and watching to see what becomes of this new formation on Jupiter. Astronomer David Reneke, consulting editor of Sky and Space Magazine says that it will probably be on the front cover of their next magazine release in about two weeks. He speculates that it could be a volcano or another disturbance on Jupiter causing a change in the clouds, but no one really knows what it is at this time. |