Jupiter Update

Hey Space Placers!

Happy Thanksgiving to our US readers! May you & your have a wonderful day.

Telescopes worldwide - amateur and professional - are monitoring Jupiter on a nightly basis to watch the return of the Southern Equatorial Belt (SEB). In the past week there have been 3 different "eruptions" in the area where the SEB is located. The SEB is one of two brownish colored belts that are near the equator of Jupiter.

For reasons unknown the SEB, and not the North Equatorial Belt (NEB), has been observed to fade and then return 1 to 3 years later. The observed eruptions are thought to be the precursors to the return of a robust SEB.

There is a great news release on all of this at: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2010/11/24_jupiter_stripe.shtml

We'll keep monitoring this story as it develops.

Sky Guy in VA

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