Jupiter's Little White Spot Turns Red

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Thursday October 12, 2006 @05:22AM from the time-for-space-prom dept.

Feelyat writes "NASA is reporting that a small storm that formed on Jupiter last year has changed color from white to red. According to an article in Yahoo News, scientist Amy Simon-Miller speculates that the storm might have gained strength as it decreased in size, similar to how 'spinning ice skaters go faster when they move their arms closer.' She says that the storm has probably 'picked up red material from lower in the Jupiter atmosphere, most likely some form of sulfur which turns red as part of a chemical reaction ...' Well, we might be one planet down, but our Solar System can still surprise."

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Discovered by an amateur by burris · 2006-10-12 06:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

Christopher Go of Cebu City Philippines discovered earlier this year that Oval BA turned red. Chris is one of the world's premier amateur planetary imagers. Check out his page dedicated to Red Jr..

Even in the day of the great orbiting observatories and huge ground based intereferometers, there is still room for amateurs working with modest equipment to make discoveries.
Stupidity, or stupidity? by Anonymous Coward · 2006-10-12 15:08 · Score: 1, Insightful

"Well, we might be one planet down, but our Solar System can still surprise."

I want to shoot whoever wrote that sentence.