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posted by Fnord666 on Saturday July 04 2020, @12:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the large-collection-of-cows dept.

Jupiter Just Sprouted a Brand New Spot:

An amateur astronomer in South Africa has detected a bright new surface feature rising above the cloud tops on Jupiter.

The largest planet in the solar system has a bright new blotch in its southern hemisphere, reports NASA. The cloudy plume, dubbed "Clyde's Spot," appears between Jupiter's iconic Great Red Spot and S2-AWO A7, another big storm to the southeast.

Jupiter's new spot was discovered on the morning of May 31, 2020 by Clyde Foster, director of the Shallow Sky section of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa and the astronomer for whom the feature is now named. Foster was imaging Jupiter at the time, spotting the spot with a filter that's sensitive to methane gas. Interestingly, the feature was not seen by astronomers in Australia just a few hours earlier.

[...] Known as a "convective outbreak," Clyde's spot is a plume of cloud extending up above the cloud layers. Such features are easily detectable in methane wavelengths, appearing as bright splotches. According to NASA, convective outbreaks are not uncommon within Jupiter's South Temperate belt, including one that appeared in this latitude band two years ago.

Juno will be making another perijove on July 25, 2020, at which time NASA will get another close-up view of this storm, so we'll get to see how this outbreak has changed over the days and weeks since its initial discovery.


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by c0lo on Saturday July 04 2020, @01:22PM

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 04 2020, @01:22PM (#1016088) Journal

    Because gizdomo tries to redirect and fails miserable if 3rd party cookies are disabled, here it is straight from the horse's mouth [nasa.gov]

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Saturday July 04 2020, @07:39PM (2 children)

    by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Saturday July 04 2020, @07:39PM (#1016205)

    Better break out some Clearisil!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 04 2020, @08:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 04 2020, @08:02PM (#1016221)

      1 Earth mass of Clearassile should do the trick.

    • (Score: 2) by leon_the_cat on Saturday July 04 2020, @08:48PM

      by leon_the_cat (10052) on Saturday July 04 2020, @08:48PM (#1016237) Journal

      Clearisil has no effect on monoliths.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @05:22AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @05:22AM (#1016399)

    Ever since the not too great movie, "Jupiter Assending", I have been intrigued about the possibility of habitable stations within the atmosphere of Gas Giants. Although it did not end well for the Aliens, but that was only because of Mila Kunis and wolf-boy merc Channing Tatum. With proper tech, it could be viable? Shitloads of radiation, though. Perhaps ice-fishing on Europa is a better idea.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @09:15AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 05 2020, @09:15AM (#1016455)

      Ever since the not too great movie, "Jupiter Assending"

      You meant "Jupiter Ass Ending", right?

      Shitloads of radiation, though.

      So, Uranus instead?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday July 05 2020, @09:21AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Sunday July 05 2020, @09:21AM (#1016459) Journal

      With proper tech, it could be viable?

      Everything is possible with proper tech, including FTL travel. Want more than that? How about CO2 sequestration on Earth?
      Do you have the proper tech, though?

      Otherwise, see Atmospheric Mining in the Outer Solar System:Resource Capturing, Exploration, and Exploitation [fdlp.gov]

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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