Posted on 05/12/2010 4:55:35 PM PDT by kennedy
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 three months later the belt had disappeared.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1277734/Jupiter-loses-stripes-scientists-idea-why.html#ixzz0nlLRW5xQ
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well, I was being a LITTLE sarcastic. ;)
But seriously, you know this ‘change’ in Jupiter’s atmosphere is just going to mean more tax dollars out of our pockets in Goobermint grants to study something that has no rational explanation or meaning. It just is what it is.
And frankly, there ain’t a d@mn thing you or me or anyone else can do about what happens on Jupiter. We’ve hardly mastered the intricacies of THIS planet, LOL!
If those clouds disappeard after Jupiter’s latest trip around the sun, well...what do we do? Put on the brakes? ;)
(See my tagline, though...)
They’re side by side.
It is the rotation. You are seeing the other side of the planet. It will return?
That Bush & Cheney. Their such cards. You can put it back now boys.
I saw Jupiter poking out behind Boomer and Mike Golic in a Nutrisystem commercial a couple of months ago.
Just call the clowns at the ipcc, and they’ll make something up, and then send you a bill.
Nah. Monoliths at work.
Dang he sure gets around (Bush) LOL
Fen-Fen, lost a belt size.
Too bad really, that stuff was the only thing I ever
lost weight with.
We need a Jupiter czar.
I told Jupiter that behind the Sun was a bad neighborhood, but did it listen to me? No. Now it has to go through life crippled without a band.
-PJ
No, this one was red, the one on his back is yellow.
"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."
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LOL!
Well that’s Goofy.
Maybe Jupiter was Mickey Mousing around with Pluto and Goofy got wind of it and Bitch Slapped it right the face of the Planet?
Goofy could have even belted it....
Oh GEE WHIZ!!! WHO KNEW!!
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