One of Jupiter's belts disappears
Emma WoollacottWed 12th May 2010
It seems to be a day for carelessness. First Apple loses another iPhone prototype, and now Jupiter's lost a belt.
One of the first to spot the change was blogger Astrobob.
"That bad boy south equatorial belt (SEB) has completely faded away. Point your scope at the planet any morning soon and you'll see only one obvious dark stripe, the North Equatorial Belt," he says on his blog.
"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."
The belts are composed of ammonia ice, with a little sulfur and phosphorus thrown in. Scientists aren't quite sure how to account for them - one theory is that they are simply gaps in higher, paler clouds that allow the darker, deeper levels to show through. the rest-image
One of the first to spot the change was blogger Astrobob.
"That bad boy south equatorial belt (SEB) has completely faded away. Point your scope at the planet any morning soon and you'll see only one obvious dark stripe, the North Equatorial Belt," he says on his blog.
"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."
The belts are composed of ammonia ice, with a little sulfur and phosphorus thrown in. Scientists aren't quite sure how to account for them - one theory is that they are simply gaps in higher, paler clouds that allow the darker, deeper levels to show through. the rest-image
posted by Pat Dague @ 10:17 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home