Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Aug 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007epsc.conf..617d&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2007, Proceedings of a conference held 20-24 August, 2007 in Potsdam, Germany. Online at ht
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Between 1997 and 2000 the three large white ovals just south of the Great Red Spot (FA, dE, and BC) merged and formed the white oval BA. In late 2005 the oval BA turned red, and is now know as the (little) Red Oval. We observed the Red Oval with HST to investigate whether its reddening may be connected to a global climate change, predicted to happen periodically (~70 years) by P. Marcus (2004). Since Jupiter received more sunlight on its equator than at the poles, one might expect the equator to be hotter than the polar regions. Voyager showed that the effective temperature is similar, however, suggestive of a process that redistributed the heat in an efficient way. Such a redistribution of heat can be caused by small storm systems, like the white ovals on Jupiter. If ovals at a particular latitude band merge, heat will no longer be transferred from the equator to pole across that latitude band, which results in a heating and colling above and below that band, respectively. Could this process be responsible for the reddening of the oval? We will also comment on the observations obtained over recent months by amateur and professional astronomers: there appears to be a "global upheaval" of Jupiter's atmosphere.
Asay-Davis Xylar
de Pater Imke
Go Christopher
Marcus Philip
Wong Martin
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