> From jr@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk Wed Nov 21 14:37 MST 2001 Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 21:34:18 +0000 From: John Rogers Subject: Barges merger? MIME-Version: 1.0 In view of these nice images sent more recently by Clay Sherrod and Ed Grafton, I just wonder: Did those barges merge or are they just sliding past each other?? Most likely they are merging and will soon settle down, but we have to wait and see. Best wishes, John. > From jr@mole.bio.cam.ac.uk Wed Nov 21 14:49 MST 2001 Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 21:48:34 +0000 From: John Rogers Subject: Re: Jupiter Observation 11-19-01 Hi Clay, Yes, the region p. the GRS is interesting, isn't it: there is a new anticyclonic brown oval, and a new S. Tropical Band. Both features are quite common but can behave in interesting ways. The S.Trop.Band started emerging from the p. end of the GRS on Nov.2-7, and has now extended to the oval. (See Sherrod's 'GRSmosaic', and Grafton's images on Oct.23 and Nov.7 and 19.) This happens perhaps once a year or so, especially at the end of an episode of SEBs jetstrream activity. Has the current episode just finished? - On Ed Grafton's images of Nov.18 & 19, there is still plenty of small-scale disturbance on SEBs but perhaps the substantial dark spots have subsided. Alternatively, the brown oval may have blocked SEBs jetstream spots from reaching the GRS and thus triggered the release of the dark material into the S.Trop.Band. The brown oval is at L2 ~ 20 (Oct. & Nov.). Akutsu's image sets of Oct.31 and Oct.19 show it, dark in UV (esp.Oct.19); it is not discernible in the methane images. However Glenn Orton's IRTF images on Sep.14 showed a methane-bright spot at this location! - perhaps this was just a temporary cloud associated with the brown oval as it formed? In view of these multispectral data, we should bear in mind that this oval could turn into a Little Red Spot, as in 1986. This brown oval looks very like the one at that location in the previous apparition, but is a different spot; last year's spot merged with the Red Spot Hollow. By the way, more references to our work in previous apparitions are on our website http://www.the-planets.co.uk/jupitersection/index.htm and of course in the BAA Journal. Best wishes, John Rogers. > From sherrodc@ipa.net Wed Nov 21 16:37 MST 2001 From: "Clay Sherrod" Subject: Re: Jupiter Observation 11-19-01 Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 17:34:34 -0600 Interesting and enlightening review and much thanks, John! This is a very active time and much to be done and seen on the big world.... P. Clay Sherrod Arkansas Sky Observatory www.arksky.org