Slashdot Mirror
Jupiter Is Missing a Belt
mbone writes "Jupiter just went through Superior Conjunction (i.e., went behind the Sun as seen from the Earth), so it has been out of view for a while. Now that it has returned, it is different — the South Equatorial Belt (SEB) is missing. The SEB has about 10 times the surface area of the Earth, so this is not a small change. Here are a series of photos of Jupiter's new look. The Great Red Spot typically inhabits the southern border of the SEB, but it doesn't seem to be affected by the change. It's a pity that this happened at Superior Conjunction, and that there is no satellite in Jupiter orbit, so details of the change are largely missing. The SEB has previously gone missing in 1973 and 1990. Since no one really knows what makes the Jovian belts, no one knows why they disappear either. If the belts are really just material from deeper layers coming to the surface, it is possible that the convection has stopped for some reason, or that high-altitude clouds have covered it over."
I left my belt in a hotel once so I know what this is like.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Sorry, there is no other explanation! Did you look at the date recently?
Check Uranus.
jupiter global warming ?
as it is eaten so it shall pass
What about Saturn's rings, insensitive clods!?!?!
Maybe Jupiter will be releasing a new gen iBelt soon?
Great masses will often loosen or lose their belts altogether to combat increases in temperature. Ask Earth.
It was Nibiru's gravitational field who sucked them up.
2012, here we come!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18889-jupiter-loses-a-stripe.html
anon post to not kharma ho
Jupiter's a shy planet. He doesn't like changing his undies when being watched, so he waited until he could hide behind the Sun. That also explains why the part missing is brown. Nothing like freshly-laundered underwear for the first time in 20 years...
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
You're supposed to update your wardrobe in the spring.
"My God! It's full of stars!"
At least we get to use almost all the moons....
He's so bright and milky white / Shining down upon the ground / He's the bright, milky white / Shining down upon the ground / Everybody look at the moon / Everybody seein' the moon / The moon is bright / He's milky white / Everybody look at the moon / Uh! ::smiles::
Heey! I did a song! Jupiter, I did a song! You ain't got one! Heey!
Living With a Nerd
Roseanne Barr wanted her belt back.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Jupiter is white,
Uranus is blue,
In Soviet Russia,
Jupiter stripes you!
Police are looking for an abnormally large man with newly fitting pants.
The Gulf of Mexico would be happy for any assistance.
Anything you say will be held against you.
If you speak from personal experience, then you sir are far more hardcore than I.
If I'm not mistaken, I think the internet gives out medals for this sort of depravity. At the very least you might get lucky and find a newsgroup of similarly minded individuals.
Personally, I'm not sure whether I should congratulate you or back away from you slowly.
If I had a nickel for every time I had a nickel, I'd be richcursive!
We really need a Cassini-like mission around Jupiter. Ground-based observations are just amazing, but think of the science we could do at Jupiter!
Juno won't be launched until 2011, and it's mission is only going to be one year (although we've seen how these things can be extended). EJSM seems promising, but that's still 10 years from launch.
And there don't seem to be any plans for Uranus and Neptune. What a shame.
It just slipped to a more southerly latitude just below the great Jovian beer gut.
That joke was heinous.
Now I know why Jupiter's pants keep falling down.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Jupiter finally heard Gen. Larry Platt's song, became embarrassed, and finally hiked that belt up North where it belonged.
Jupiter looses belt now looks like Uranus
http://snappeh.com/blog/ - My Blog, not that any of you care...
I hope its pants don't fall down.
The best curse phrase in Spartacus: Blood and Sand now reveals it's meaning. Those Romans knew more than we thought.
Except Europa. Attempt no landing there.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
in 5, 4, 3, 2...
"Ayn Rand is a bloody socialist compared to me." - Robert A. Heinlein
This smells of Photoshop CS5 Content Awareness!
Obviously Jovian made Global Warming. Let's tax the Europans into poverty so it doesn't happen again.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Jupiter_impact_event + Missing Belt = Scary
It must be that nasty global warming striking again. Or maybe its oil from the Gulf of Mexico that has reached out of orbit!
Or maybe Jupiter got tired of all you slashdotters and pulled a Houdini when you weren't looking...
The reason is obvious, Jupiter lost some weight, so that extra belt just wasn't needed anymore.
The disappearance of the belt comes at a time of widespread - but mysterious - change on Jupiter, which has seen changes to the colour of other bands and spots in its atmosphere. "There has been a lot going on," Orton says.
But is there a monolith floating around Jupiter now?
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
We haVe yoUre beLT, anD if YoU eVer wiSh tO sEe It aGaiN, yoU mUsT PlaCe onE mIlliOn DoLlaRs in uNmaRked biLls In a tO bE annOunCed uNdisCloseD loCatIon...
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
It was actually Carmen San Diego who took the belt! She's getting her practice run to either steal the Great Red Spot or Saturn's Rings!
KHAN!
If it were done when 'tis done, then t'were well it were done quickly... MacBeth
http://www.theonion.com/articles/jupiters-liberals-worried-about-their-ammonia-foot,17419/
"Jupiter just went through Superior Conjunction (i.e., went behind the Sun as seen from the Earth)" ...wake me when Jupiter passes between the sun and the earth ("inferior conjunction"?), or on second thought, don't.
Could it be Seasonal in that special Jovian way?
Life is not for the lazy.
At first I thought "Um, I'm not sure I beleive this." If it is that is crazy that it can dissappear and be okay.
Carpet Cleaning
And now, we profit!
"Hey Simpson, wanna trade belts?" "Well, not really.. My belt is really cool, and yours is just an extension cord" "Hey man, he's ragging on your cord! Get him!"
The invasion fleet left Jupiter.
whole belt on NutraSystem!
1990-1973 = 17 years .. but we're in 2010.
1990+17 = 2007
So, it's 3 years late? ... Is Jupiter pregnant?
Your MOM's belt has ten times the surface area as earth.
In 1990 and 2010, Saturn and Jupiter were in Superior Conjunction. In 1973, that condition had just passed.
Any chance that the Allais Effect with Jupiter, Sun, Saturn syzygy might be at work here? I know the Allais Effect is a quirky, difficult-to-replicate condition, but perhaps this is another data point.
You damn punk planets and your baggy pants. Where's my M1 when I need it?
Infuriate left and right
Only by tired old deniers.
1. I knew it! Aliens are hiding behind the sun. They just stole Jupiter's belt!!
2. Opps! We caught Jupiter with its pants down. How embarrassing.
3. You wouldn't have lost your belt if you had fastened it right.
Uh-oh. The last time one of Jupiter's satellite bodies disappeared, things did not turn out so well for us.
You can buy Jovian Belts 3 for a dollar at Pennys, but I wouldn't pay three dollars for just one. Those Jovian's don't know much about making belts, let me tell you (they fall apart when you get them too close to the sun).
...On the same day that another Apple iPhone goes missing? Yikes!
Solar system continuity error. The editors at NASA that control the view of the night sky must be ashamed.
Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!
I would say that it is the other way around: A significant portion of Jupiters surface has changed color from reddish to white-ish, suggesting that it emits more light, and, hence, more energy. It follows that the disappearance of SEB will counteract the cooling due to sunspots. I for one am looking forward to a warm summer!
The truth may be out there, but lies are inside your head
But this really is serious. Environmentalists have been warning about this for decades. How many belts must Jupiter lose before we all acknowledge the reality of Jovial warming?!
It was hidden behind the sun for a while.
Just sayin'.
if it's anything like the common tree, the rings might indicate its age
It's shrinking! It's SHRINKING!!
Ever stop to think that Jupiter is pretty without makeup? Ever think of that? Yeah, I bet not. What's next? Is someone going to call Jupiter fat? She already had to hide behind the biggest object she could find to get her fucking makeup off! I, for one, am worried about her mental health; we all know what happened with those comets a while back.
The aliens took it as a energy resource on their way here to take our resources.
And to keep themselves hidden, thay did it in a manner that we couldn't see them coming.
Global Warming strikes again!
All the Jupe ever wanted was it's belt back. It really tied the moons together, man.
Allais Effect
Does not exist.
Maybe it just gained some weight so it doesn't need the belt anymore?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You mean like Galileo?
Disappeared, eh? Betcha that orbiting monolith has something to do with it.
Where is he going to hang his onion?
With your planetary pants on the ground!
What a coincidence, thanks to the TSA - so am I!
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
...so long as the Big Red Spot's okay.
I might also be a lighting effect related to the Sun's position, our position and possibly other space phenomenons
YOU might, but I am most certainly not.
However, I might be a small chunk from Uranus.
.
- aqk
F U
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18889-jupiter-loses-a-stripe.html
anon post to not kharma ho
Thanks for those pics. They make it more clear than the /. links since you can see the Red Spot in both.
It doesn't really look like the belt went anywhere. It just looks like it got a lot lighter. But there is still a distinct band there.
I guess that isn't as thrilling as saying that a belt is gone" though.
When you are the biggest, you are expected to make a fashion statement.
missing: belt. from largest planet in outlying solar system. please return, no questions asked. planet of raging primates discovered loss and might come to investigate. we can't let that happen. reward if you act soon.
Impact event last year spewed gas into the atmosphere which is now caught in the belt concealing the SEB from view.
Stranded tourists will be complaining of cancelled flights for years.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
I predict that a bunch of aliens stole Jupiters belt while it was hiding behind the sun ..... and as a joke reprogrammed our satellite to speak gibberish :)
Stephen Hawking believes that aliens are up to no-good, but it seems to me that aliens are just a bunch of school age hooligans out for a laugh. I think we're on the same page here :p
This is a large/big/major change.
Say what it is, rather than what it isn't. It's NOT many other things... it's also not a small car, a big house by the lake or a policy to affect traffic patterns.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
Maybe someone should phone the doctor, there's something fishy going on in the outer sol, I smell Daleks!