Jupiter is missing a case of Red Stripe
 

Did World's King and Giant Hamburger finally meet up for an intergalactic kegger?

That's fascinating. What I find so cool about astronomy is the active role hobbyists and amateurs can play in advancing science, as this article shows. It's relatively easy (not necessarily cheap) to set up a backyard telescope and start stargazing.

I can be very cheap to look at Jupiter. If you go the cheap route, though, you might not be seeing the stripes very well. Even during last years Jupiter opposition, I was unable to make out anything on Jupiter. My telescopes allowed me to see the Galilean moons well, but not stripes and spots. I have a retractor and a reflector, and it was about the same for both. They were each under $200, so not very large. I can't remember the specs on them right now.

I could just suck at this. Actually, I'm pretty sure of it. Any hints for seeing these stripes?

Has it been 15 years since the last ring has vanished? I think the only way they are going to figure out why or how it vanishes is if NASA or someone else decides to build a machine that can travel to Jupiter and make observations.

Great find, warrreagl.
It doesn't look like Jupiter serves red stripe. They brew their own Red Spot, but I haven't tried it.

It looks funny without that lower stripe. It must be crazy living someplace with so little light pollution that you'd be able to see Jupiter with a basic hobby telescope.

genuinegirly - Maybe you mean with enough clarity to distinguish features like stripes and spots, but unless you live on Coruscant you should be able to see Mercury, Saturn, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter with just your eyes.

Mercury and Venus are more difficult because their proximity to the sun. Right now Venus is very bright early evening in the west. Mars is high in the sky early dark, currently, and just looks like a bright star with a red tint.

I don't want to start a thread and those that will find this thread interesting will find this link interesting too.
Also I'm too lazy to edit that sentence.

File:McMoon - 48,000 lbs of 70mm tape.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

With a basic hobby telescope you should be able to find Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and Mars from just about anywhere you may have to drive a small distance if you happen to live in the middle of a VERY bright area of a city. It is entirely possible to look at Venus in the middle of the day (quite a few people do) if you're careful and know where to find it. The planets are just that bright.

that is really cool, i'm going to have to google that a bit more :)



The jupiter thing is pretty wild, kinda scary to see how quickly a planet can change... earth has been pretty stable for us so far!

Jupiter has been pantsed.

pwned.

Well that is mighty odd isn't it? Not having an incredibly firm grasp of astronomy I wonder how long have we been able to observe clear enough pictures of Jupiter to get an understanding of the common features and when and how they change. In other words are these century long storms that eventually fade or is there just so much activity in the atmosphere that storms just can't run out of steam? It makes me wonder if at some point the famous red spot wasn't there and/or if at some point that might disappear too. Wild.

Astronomy is fascinating to me, I really wish I had more time to study it. :)

I wish I had a 'scope, or even my binocs back. I love looking at a full moon. (nobody mention Fly, please)
We have a cleared field back of our house that would be a perfect spot to set up a 'scope.

The ring disappearing is interesting. They mention an impact spot.
A big enough impact could've affected the atmosphere, like the one that they theorize destroyed the dinosaurs here.

gg, I'm actually really surprised to hear this from you, considering where you live now. Just drive 10 minutes outside of Oxford (not in the direction of Hamilton) and you'll find many places where the stargazing is excellent. Especially in Preble County or rural Indiana.

Sure, Pony... the two days out of the year when it's not cloudy, rainy, or overcast...

Have you even spent a summer here yet?

There is plenty of stargazing to be had. Spring is notorious for rain.. that's why you see so many successful crops farmed without irrigation!

You will get plenty of clear nights! I have had a handful already, and the skies are usually very clear in the winter, too, if you can bundle up enough to handle the cold. :)

I guess I have something to look forward to, then.

...It can't be the day our gas giants examine their makeup.

Turbulent flow in rotating spheres is fascinating, from the little I've read in relation to modeling deterministic systems in chaos theory. It doesn't surprise me all that much that we see drastic changes from time to time, although I'd really like to know exactly what combination of factors caused it. When computing power got to the point that this kind of system could be modeled, some of the flows in systems with combinations of fluids of varying densities formed their own spots, much like the great red spot, and lines around the surface formed and dissipated. I can't remember the paper that came up with the simulated red spot, and I'm not at work so I can't browse for it right now, but I'll try to find it next week.

I wonder if it disappeared all at once or if it faded away mysteriously

also MSD that sounds like some super interesting work you do

When I was a kid, I always wanted to be an astronomer. Then I found out that in college, you don't major in astronomy; you major in physics. And, just like with psychology, the first two degrees won't get you squat - without a PhD, your only option is to teach high school physics. Not that there's anything wrong with that . . . .

And, of course, there's that pesky working the graveyard shift thing.

Or you could follow the path of Milton Humason, who worked his way up from janitor at Mount Wilson Observatory to being one of the guys who discovered the evidence of The Big Bang - all because he hung around astronomers and asked lots of questions.

When I was in High School I was able to just see Jupiter's red stripes with a 4.5" reflector telescope (I forget which eyepiece I was using, I suspect the lower power one as it had a wider field of vision). The Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede, & Callisto) looked like bright points of light. Saturn was way prettier, too pretty to have a masculine name. (makes me wonder what the Romans would have named that planet if they had telescopes)

so Jupiter sez, "Thank God my hemorrhoids are back!"
Saturn sez, "Speak for yourself."

What about Uranus?

Go figure. Watch the planet.

My job is exceedingly boring, but working for a university comes with free JSTOR access, which allows me to read things that interest me.

Jupiter's Belt, Believed Missing Last Month, Has Been Found (Sort Of) | Popular Science

Phew. I was worried there for a while.

Fascinating stuff.I was actually considering buying my wife a star. (yes I realize it's all a sham) and then buying her a telescope for an occasion. That'd be a cool date I think. Telescope on a mountain finding her star. I remember reading tons of stuff about astronomy and being obsessed with that as a kid. That, and dinosaurs...