Return of Jupiter's south equatorial belt

[EarthlingX]

http://www.planetary.org : Jupiter's outbreak is spreading

Nov. 22, 2010 | 10:03 PST | 18:03 UTC

By Emily Lakdawalla

Jupiter, always a pretty sight in the sky, is now worth visiting every day; the "outbreak" that heralds the return of Jupiter's formerly red, now faded south equatorial belt is expanding and multiplying. I'm no astronomer myself, so I look over the shoulders of amateurs to watch all of this action unfold. Here's one recent photo showing the outbreak at 20:08 UT on November 20. It appears as a series of dark comma-like structures in the south equatorial belt; the south pole is up in this image.

Jupiter on November 20, 2010: Outbreak!
In November 2010, Jupiter's south equatorial belt, which had been faded into whiteness for a year, developed an "outbreak" of activity. Credit: Teruaki Kumamori, Sakai City, Osaka, Japan

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Clearly there's going to be a lot more action on Jupiter this week; which is of course when I will be traveling to visit family for Thanksgiving. If you'd like to watch it unfold, blogger Daniel Fischer and astronomer Leigh Fletcher both have informative Tweets on Jupiter's status. Daniel just posted a blog entry rounding up numerous recent Jupiter photos (which is how I found that nifty animation by Christopher Go), and Leigh has reported recently that both Gemini north and south telescopes as well as the VLT have successfully acquired infrared maps of the action. Stay tuned for developments!