Posted on 07/20/2009 12:16:36 AM PDT by LibWhacker
Jupiter’s new black spot The black spot is at the top of this image.
I just saw on Twitter (hard to believe I ever thought Twitter was useless) that Jupiter is sporting a new black spot near its south pole. You can see it in the picture here (click to go to the source and embiggen).
People on Twitter (and on that site linked above) are speculating that this is the result of a large impact on Jupiter, similar to what happened in 1994 when comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the big planet. But I think that’s premature; weather changes rapidly on Jupiter, and black spots have appeared before — see here and here. That doesn’t mean this isn’t an impact event (or, for that matter, the earlier events weren’t either) but it’s jumping the gun to call it an impact event before we get more observations. I will add that this new spot is indeed very dark, which means it’s pretty interesting no matter what it is!
. . . [Snip] . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.discovermagazine.com ...
A black mark about half the size of the Earth? Ouch.
That looks like the north side.... I know I know.. ain’t no up or down in space
If I was watching that up close and personal, there’d be a new brown spot on my shorts.
Please visit my Facebook page. I have posted information for how you can send money by PayPal to help the people of Jupiter after this meteor impact.
lol
Please correct me if I’m wrong; but isn’t the entire surface we see nothing more than gasses above the surface. If that is the case, than the spot is nothing more than a clearing in the clouds
Bush’s Fault?
When Shoemaker-Levy hit the planet, the impact sites were dark because of dark material the comet itself delivered to Jupiter and because of darker material the impact churned up deeper down in the atmosphere. Comet fragments would penetrate some distance into the atmosphere, explode, then plumes of this dark debris shot out a couple of thousand miles before collapsing back onto the surface. I'm guessing it's the same here, if this is an impact.
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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, January 1994, Hubble Space Telescope
All these worlds are yours except Europa. Do not attempt landings there. Use them together. Use them in peace.
Now that just ain’t right!
Maine is “Down East” because older New England navigational charts were “west up”.
The Jupiter strike could be an asteroid or maybe a comet chunk similar to Shoemaker-Levy 15 years ago.
If the time period were 12 years it would seem more likely another piece of that comet.
Just as our earthly “meteor showers’ occur at the same date annually, Jupiter’s would occur at each Jupiter year (Jupiter year = appx 12 Earth yrs)
(PS - like your screen name)
related (and timely):
Comet Shoemaker-Levy Collision with Jupiter [July 16 through July 22, 1994]
JPL | Friday, July 10, 2009 | Ron Baalke
Posted on 07/10/2009 12:53:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2289908/posts
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