Light Eye
05-04-2006, 10:51 AM
dear friends,
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060504_red_jr.html
be well, be love.
david
new storm on jupiter hints at climate change
by sara goudarzi
staff writer
posted: 04 may 2006
01:00 pm et
a storm is brewing half a billion miles away and in a rare event, astronomers
get to watch it closely.
jupiter is growing a new red spot and the hubble space telescope is
photographing the scene. backyard astronomers have been following the action,
too.
"red spot jr." as it is being called, formed after three white oval-shaped
storms?two of which were at least 90 years old?merged between 1998 and 2000.
a similar merger took place centuries ago and formed the bigger and legendary
great red spot, a storm twice as big as earth and almost 300 years old.
close inspections of red spot jr., in hubble images released today, reveal
that similar to the great red spot, the more recently developed storm rises
above the top of the main cloud deck on jupiter.
little is known about how storms form on the giant planet. they are often
described as behaving similar to hurricanes on earth. some astronomers believe
that the spots dredge up material deep below jupiter's clouds and lift it to
where the sun's ultraviolet light chemically alters it to give it a red hue.
the latest images could provide evidence that jupiter is in the midst of a
global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees fahrenheit
on different parts of the globe.
the study was led jointly by imke de pater and philip marcus of university of
california, berkeley.
"the storm is growing in altitude," de pater said. "before when they were just
ovals they didn't stick out above the clouds. now they are rising."
this growth signals a temperature increase in that region, she said.
[non-text portions of this message have been removed]
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060504_red_jr.html
be well, be love.
david
new storm on jupiter hints at climate change
by sara goudarzi
staff writer
posted: 04 may 2006
01:00 pm et
a storm is brewing half a billion miles away and in a rare event, astronomers
get to watch it closely.
jupiter is growing a new red spot and the hubble space telescope is
photographing the scene. backyard astronomers have been following the action,
too.
"red spot jr." as it is being called, formed after three white oval-shaped
storms?two of which were at least 90 years old?merged between 1998 and 2000.
a similar merger took place centuries ago and formed the bigger and legendary
great red spot, a storm twice as big as earth and almost 300 years old.
close inspections of red spot jr., in hubble images released today, reveal
that similar to the great red spot, the more recently developed storm rises
above the top of the main cloud deck on jupiter.
little is known about how storms form on the giant planet. they are often
described as behaving similar to hurricanes on earth. some astronomers believe
that the spots dredge up material deep below jupiter's clouds and lift it to
where the sun's ultraviolet light chemically alters it to give it a red hue.
the latest images could provide evidence that jupiter is in the midst of a
global change that can modify temperatures by as much as 10 degrees fahrenheit
on different parts of the globe.
the study was led jointly by imke de pater and philip marcus of university of
california, berkeley.
"the storm is growing in altitude," de pater said. "before when they were just
ovals they didn't stick out above the clouds. now they are rising."
this growth signals a temperature increase in that region, she said.
[non-text portions of this message have been removed]