Jupiter loses a stripe

www.newscientist.com...

Quote from source:
Jupiter has lost one of its prominent stripes, leaving its southern half looking unusually blank. Scientists are not sure what triggered the disappearance of the band.

Jupiter's appearance is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere – one in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere.

But recent images of Jupiter taken by amateur astronomers show that the southern band – called the south equatorial belt – has disappeared.

The band was present at the end of 2009, right before Jupiter moved too close to the sun in the sky to be observed from Earth. When the planet emerged from the sun's glare again in early April, its south equatorial belt was nowhere to be seen.

No cover

This is not the first time the south equatorial belt has disappeared. It was absent in 1973 when NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft took the first closeup images of the planet and also temporarily vanished in the early 1990s.

I had to post this because this is an awesome story. How can a planet the size of jupiter lose a stripe so easily? I wonder what happened to the wind that would create the line to dissipate.

Maybe the lines above and below ate it?

Any thoughts?

Pred...

Global warming, maybe?

Maybe they were gas clouds that dissipated under the heat.

But on a more serious note, I think it may be a temporary thing, as history dictates.

Oh crap! Jupiter was de-moted?!?!?

(What do they call it in the millitary again when you lose a stripe?)

Wouldn't it be a calming of the winds on Jupiter that would cause that though?

Jupiter is a planet with consent storms. Am I right? If it's possible the large storm could of died down.

OMG its Niburu everyone!!!!!!

/sarcasm

Wow Jupiter sure has been doing/getting affected by things as of the past few years. Levy and now this, like another poster has stated I wonder if it was a storm perhaps. A band of clouds that dissolved into another? Some gas compound that kind of just fazed away?

well if you behave badly...
you will be losing ur stripes..

Pretty crazy story, huh? I came to ATS to post this, but you got to it first

KSEE24.com

Jupiter Loses Stripe, Still Retains Rank as 5th From the Sun

(sounds like they aren't the only ones who picked up on the military stripe analogy )

The band was spotted as recently as the end of 2009, right before Jupiter moved too close to the sun in the sky to be observed from Earth. When the planet returned to view again in early April, its south equatorial belt was nowhere to be seen.

What's crazy is that I was wondering if anyone would have been able to see the progression of the disappearance or if we could figure out how long it took to disappear. People are always watching the planets. But this explains it well. How weird that it disappears during the only time we cannot see the planet.

So in at least 4 or 5 months, it disappeared. That nuts!

Anybody who knows more than I do about this stuff have any clue as to what could make this happen? Could it really be just the wind? If so, why after years and years and years would it just, stop? Is something like that possible without a MAJOR climactic change?

I'm just gonna give this a little baby bump. It's a pretty cool story that I think is very interesting and not all that trivial.

*bump*

Maybe it's the start of it's transition into becoming our 2nd Sun!!

Global warming no doubt. Every planet in our solar system is experiencing the same phenomenon. Even the ice caps on Mars are melting...

Although experts aren't exactly sure why this happens, it does, and with pretty regular frequency.



From the Bad Astronomy blog: How will Jupiter hold up his pants?

[...]Usually, the Great Red Spot is accompanied by a dark reddish belt that goes all the way around the planet, like the one in the northern hemisphere you can see in the picture. However, the Southern Equatorial Belt, as it’s called, is gone!

This has happened before, in fact. It’s not clear exactly why this sort of thing occurs, though. The belts (and their lighter-colored cousins, called zones) are weather patterns that stretch around the planet, a bit like the jet stream on Earth. They can be affected by temperature, chemical composition, and other factors. It’s possible that a belt can sink lower in the Jovian atmosphere if it cools slightly. Clouds then pour in on top of it, hiding it from view. It’s still there, just hidden; if the temperature rises it can float back up like nothing ever happened.

Jupiter is a weird place. Remember, we only see the very tops of the clouds. They go all the way down, tens of thousands of kilometers deep, where the pressure gets so great the gas just sorta gradually turns into a liquid. So having a belt sink a little bit and disappearing is perhaps less unlikely with such a freaky planet than it would be on Earth.

Regards.

i think it has to do with the angle the planet may be in. i remember watching some show saying that the rings are hard to see in a certain angle. im not sure if its the same planet but they found another ring not too long ago that was never spotted cause f this same reason.

[edit on 12-5-2010 by air101]

I have a theory about the colorations on jupiter and why the dark belt may have disappeared: (might already be some other space nerd's theory too) -

Jupiter's powerful magnetic field, said to have changed recently or fluctuating could be affecting how the elements are being directed on and near the surface..

The red spot is supposedly caused by small amounts of phosphorus and sulphur mixed in the ammonia ice crystals, and the giant spot changes and fluctuates in size and color caused by magnetic field, motion and swirling effect by natural forces, etc... perhaps the large dark band could be affected similarly..

but I couldn't find much info on how or if jupiter's magnetic field affects the appearance of it's surface materials...

Being so humongous it is no surprise to be a big attention getter having disappeared
s&f

reply to post by Rren


Well, that makes sense. Thanks for the information. I was not aware something like this had happened before. So basically, it can come back, correct?

edit to add: I hope it does come back; I miss it already

[edit on 13-5-2010 by nunya13]

Originally posted by air101
i think it has to do with the angle the planet may be in. i remember watching some show saying that the rings are hard to see in a certain angle. im not sure if its the same planet but they found another ring not too long ago that was never spotted cause f this same reason.

[edit on 12-5-2010 by air101]

thats rings, like the rings of saturn. When they are edge-on, they can visually disappear due to our angle of viewing.

The stripes being discussed on jupiter however, are in the atmosphere of the planet.

It does seem to be a 15-20ish year cycle however, most likely due to climate change inside the planet's atmosphere and surface.

Here's a before and after picture of jupiter just so you can see what has changed.



Pred...

I think, maybe, that the storm just went lower than the two airstreams next to it due to a change in temperature or increase in the counterwinds to the north and south.

Originally posted by discl0sur3
Global warming no doubt. Every planet in our solar system is experiencing the same phenomenon. Even the ice caps on Mars are melting...

Could it be possible that it was recently knocked off it's rotational pattern which caused the southern hemisphere to change? I would think the northern would change too but I don't know...just a thought?