Jupiter loses one of its stripes
Jupiter was pictured this month (left) looking unusually bare, compared to July 2009 (right). It has lost its dark red Southern Equatorial Belt although scientists are unclear as to why. The pictures have different tones because they were snapped a year apart.Image credit: Daily Mail
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has lost one of its iconic red stripes, according to the most recent images taken by astronomers.
The gas giant is usually dominated by two dark bands in its atmosphere — one in the northern hemisphere and another in the southern hemisphere.
“But the most recent images taken by astronomers showed that the lower stripe has disappeared, leaving the southern half of the planet looking unusually naked,” the Daily Mail reported.
“The band was present at the end of 2009 before Jupiter ducked behind the Sun. However, when it emerged from our star’s glare in early April, the belt had disappeared,” the report said.
Amateur astronomer Bob King, who was one of the first to notice the strange phenomenon, said: “Jupiter with only one belt is almost like seeing Saturn when its rings are edge-on and invisible for a time — it just doesn’t look right.”
Jupiter is a giant ball of gas and liquid around 500 million miles from the Sun. The planet’s surface is composed of dense red, brown, yellow, and white clouds arranged in light-coloured areas called zones and darker regions called belts. The clouds are created by chemicals that have formed at different heights.
And the exciting phenomenon of Jupiter losing a stripe is not actually new. The planet loses or regains one of its belts every 10 of 15 years, although exactly why this happens is a mystery, said the report.
Noted Jupiter watcher Anthony Wesley, who spotted an impact spot on its surface last year, has tracked the disappearing belt from his backyard 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.”
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?” Wesley said.
Bureau Report
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