Jupiter's Little White Spot Turns Red

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."

We Need to Do Something

[eldavojohn]

Science: Jupiter's Little White Spot Turns Red

Look, I've read about this guy [wikipedia.org], and we do not want to piss him off.

Ok, we have Gold Bond Medicated Powder [goldbond.com], we have astronauts, let's get up there and fix this!

Re:We Need to Do Something

[Amazing Quantum Man]

Jupiter has a zit!!!!

Re:

[diersing]

DON'T TOUCH IT!!! When it turns back to white, THEN it's ready to pop.

Re:We Need to Do Something

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Jupiter has a zit!!!!"

I didn't think this would happen until the planet crossed into the constellation Herpes.

Re:

[Compaq_Hater]

Or it could be a Cancerous tumor !, quck better get a planet Doctor in there to Biopy it stat before it's too late.

CH

Not Gold Bond

[Harmonious Botch]

Castor oil would be better.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Look, I've read about this guy, and we do not want to piss him off.

Don't worry. He just met Ganymede, that's all. People do turn red when in love ;-)

Yesterday's News, but how about comet SWAN?

[ackthpt]

Read all about it before the Lidle crash took the top spots on Google News. It's interesting, but really, Jupiter is always up to something with that turbulent atmosphere. Streams of spots have appeared in the past and vanished again. [space.com] This will probably hang around for a bit and then go the way of other spots.

Meanwhile, there's Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) [nasa.gov], which is near it's peak magnitude, visible just after sunset which is my primary viewing target [heavens-above.com] this weekend. It's going to be around until early December, but at declining magnitudes.

Ob ISR Post:

In Soviet Russia little reds spot YOU!

you hear the ghost of Bill Goodwin ellaborating on swan, the new white floating comet

Re:

[Harmonious Botch]

Yeah, I agree. this should be the leda text.

Space day?

[cbelle13013]

Is is space day on Slashdot?

Re:

[johnsmith_12345]

Everyday is Space Day on Slashdot.

slashdot needs to check its demographic

[sentientbrendan]

for most of us, these are not local weather conditions.

An insult to Jupitarians!

[hellfire]

Once again, a rude slashdotter assumes the only people who read slashdot are white male human computer geeks living in the United States. As a purple hermaphroditic Jupitarian meteorological geek living on Europa, I find your comment distasteful and thoughtless. When are you going to learn, you narrow-minded Terrans?!?!

Re:An insult to Jupitarians!

[networkBoy]

Not to nitpick as you are the native, but should not that be Jovian, as opposed to Jupitarian?
-nB

Re:An insult to Jupitarians!

[Anonymous Coward]

As a purple hermaphroditic Jupitarian meteorological geek living on Europa

Ugh! Eurotrash.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

As a purple hermaphroditic Jupitarian meteorological geek living on Europa

Now that's hot... You interested in a date?

Re:

[pangu]

We don't care about Europa, we aren't going to land there anyway.

Re:

[Compaq_Hater]

Yeah, after all we know that somtime in 2010 it is going to be renovated and turned in to a Sun.
CH

"I said... WHAT ARE THOSE GLOWY THINGS?!"

[Guppy]

"As a purple hermaphroditic Jupitarian meteorological geek living on Europa, I find your comment distasteful and thoughtless. When are you going to learn, you narrow-minded Terrans?!?!"

Oh hey, glad you showed up on Slashdot. I've been meaning to ask a gas-giant dweller such as yourself something that has puzzled me greatly. What are those glowy bits?

But it's our responsibility!

[Roadkills-R-Us]

This is undoubtedly mankind's fault for sending probes
to other planets. I bet we melted the Martian polar ice
caps as well. My relatives back on Mars are pretty pissed
about that; I bet they retaliate soon.

Re:

[boojum.cat]

for most of us, these are not local weather conditions.

No kidding. 400 mph -- what's that, a category 43 storm?

Atmospheric turbulence

[BWJones]

So, we've known for some time about the potential for atmospheric mixing in the Jovian atmosphere. In a way, I guess this would have been expected. For an animation of the Great Red Spot and its turbulence, click here [utah.edu] and scroll down.

Uh oh

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I just got an email from [e-mail] that says:

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPS NO LANDING THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM IN PEACE

It's all in caps though, so it's probably spam...

Re:

[iggymanz]

if Jupiter has acquired one of those monolith WMD we must invade and liberate it

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

just got an email from [e-mail] that says: ...
It's all in caps though, so it's probably spam...

ALL THESE DRUGS ARE YOURS EXCEPT V14GR4
ATTEMPT TO BUY IT HERE!
USE THEM TOGETHER
USE THEM LONG TIME


hmm, crappy post. let's make this anonymous.

Re:

[networkBoy]

Dude, I just watched 2010 last night!
What timing!

I'm waiting for [e-mail] before I accept it as not spam though :)
-nB

Re:

[mgblst]

Yeah, I wonder what the chances of that are? Considering there are about a million geeks reading this, and geeks are only going to watch a small subet of all the movies out there. And there are stories about Jupiter every couple of weeks...wow, astronomical.

Go buy a lottery ticket!

Re:

[NitsujTPU]

One of the most masterful reinterpretations of the end of 2010 is this: http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=182038 &cid=15049398 [slashdot.org]

ALL THESE WORLD ARE BELONG TO YOU EXCEPT EUROPA
ATTEMPT NO SET YOU DOWN THERE
USE THEM TOGETHER
IN TIME MAKE YOUR PEACE
HA HA HA HA

Re:Uh oh - reinterpretation of a reinterpretation

[poopie]

IN AD 2010
war was ending

Dr. Chandra: What happen?
HAL: Somebody set up us the monolith
HAL: We get signal, Dave
Dr Chanrda: What?!
HAL: Main screen turn on
Dr Chandra: it's you!
Dave: How are you gentlemen?
Monolith: All your Europa are belong to us
Monolith: Land there are you are on the way to destruction
Dr Chandra: What you say!!
Monolith: You have chance to make your peace
Dave: Ha Ha Ha Ha
Monolith: Take off every other planet together
Dave: Take off every Leonev
Dr. Chandra: Move Leonev
Hal: For great justice

Re:

[PateraSilk]

Shouldn't Jupiter have a top-level domain? [e-mail]

Re:

[mortonda]

More to the point, TCP/IP will timeout before getting to Mars, much less Jupiter.

Re:

[snarkth]

It's all in caps though, so it's probably spam...

    So... does SETI run spamassassin on potential messages? Do they have any false positives? Or does the spellchecker reject it outright?

  *snark*

Title???

[Spez]

FTA (emphasis mine):

The Little Red Spot's winds, now raging up to approximately 400 miles per hour, signal that the storm is growing stronger, according to the NASA-led team that made the Hubble observations. The increased intensity of the storm probably caused it to change color from its original white in late 2005, according to the team

It turned red last year and now its just stronger. Please editors RTFA!!!

Re:

[Danimoth]

Well, it took a little time for the message to get here from there, Comcast hasn't gotten around to installing the high speed conections out there so lags still a killer.

Sick

[Anonymous Coward]

When it turns red like that, it means it is infected. Call a doctor.

Re:

[Ignignot]

No, it is blushing!

ONE planet down?

[IntelliTubbie]

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

Uh, Mars?

Cheers,
IT

Re:

[Odin_Tiger]

I think by 'one planet down' they meant one fewer, as in, Pluto no longer being a planet. ;)

Re:

[Servo]

I thought they re-instated Pluto and added a 10th planet?

Re:

[hal2814]

No, the Tenth Planet [wikipedia.org] would be Mondas. Just watch out for the Cybermen if you go there.

Re:

[jd]

It's ok. Those cybermen are all in bodystockings and have been subjected to endless reruns of Up Pompeii. It's the cybermen with the air-conditioning unit on the chest that you've got to watch for.

Re:

[macpulse]

I'm pretty sure it is still up for debate. I say leave Pluto alone dangit!

Re:

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

They prefer to be called Jovians.

And if we see this Jovian carnage take place, do we call ourselves Jovians Witnesses?

My theory

[UbuntuDupe]

I think it was caused by increased industrial emissions by the planet's richest countries.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Rather, Jupiters terror alert level just increased.

Oh no!

[Rik Sweeney]

Changed color from white to red

Why does this always happen on a Thursday? I'd recommend putting some cream on that, it should disappear by tomorrow, just in time for Ashley's party too (Jordan will be there, he's well yummy). Don't squeeze it though, that'll leave a scar.

A troll-prone day today...

[mi]

Levees are bursting on Jupiter, and the increase in the number of hurricanes has been directly linked to the SUV-related climate changes brought to you by the evil corporationy Corporations.

Jovian scale SUV?

[ackthpt]

Levees are bursting on Jupiter, and the increase in the number of hurricanes has been directly linked to the SUV-related climate changes brought to you by the evil corporationy Corporations.

If there's a Jovian scale SUV, Arnold will want one, bugger the new California green-house gas laws.

Re:

[avirrey]

Unfortunately, Jupiter will soon be clasified as a Multi-storma-toid and not a planet. By definition (which will be in an addendum, because they always are) can have a max of 1 (one!) red spot. Any subsequent spots forming will automatically disqualify it as a planet. Good bye babe, better luck next time.
============
I can put what I want here.

Re:

[slipnslidemaster]

I believe that we need to come up with a new definition for what makes up a storm. Obviously this is NOT a storm but actually a DWARF storm.

Re:

[avirrey]

=( I didn't say it was a storm... I said it was a spot (o.O)
=======
"Bah -- Humbug!"

Re:

[slipnslidemaster]

Well then...DWARF spot...

I've hear of that....

[revery]

I've heard of that, I think it means it has TB.

Little Spot's Visitor

[GrayCalx]

It just the little spot's monthly visitor. Probably why its been nagging the Big Red Spot so much recently. Just give her a couple days to herself; go fishing or visit that college friend in the next town over. Once you get back everything will be back to normal.

What's that smell?

[davido42]

What is the smell of a gas giant farting? (red sulphur, mmm)

Who needs a wimpy planet like Pluto when you have Jupiter? Jupiter kicks extraterrestrial ass!

BitWorks Music - recommended by 4 out of 5 aliens [bitworksmusic.com]

Apparently it's been going on for a while

[Tarlus]

Looking at those pictures of Jupiter, they're dated back to April 8th and 16th of 2006.

It makes me wonder... Why did NASA wait half a year before making this public? What's going on with Jupiter right now?

Re:

[mr_matticus]

What's happening with Jupiter right now? It ate Pluto, forever ending the debate over its planetary status.

Re:

[Tarlus]

I guess that would be one way to solve it.

Re:

[Gospodin]

Clearly they want to influence the elections.

Re:

[suthers]

Amateur astronomers have certainly known about this for a while. Some have been using webcams attached to their telescopes to record images of the spots. This has come out now simply because a scientific paper has just been published about it. Unfortunately it coincides with the time when Jupiter has passed into the Sun's glare and so cannot be seen in the night sky!

Discovered by an amateur

[burris]

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. [redspotjr.com].

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.

Jovian Global Warming

[CheeseburgerBrown]

REUTERS - Jupiter System - Dirty hippie environmentalists all across the globe are rallying this morning in an appeal to Primal Fuxquot Xorquon to reverse her policy on atmospheric pollutants. The office of the Primal Fuxquot declined to comment, but StripePeace spokesthings stated that, "This escalation in extreme weather phenomena is a direct result of the Xorquon Administration's invasion of Io."

Ionese vapour, which tends to gather at LaGrange points, has been diffusing into the upper Jovian atmospher

Mis-spelling

[Anomalyst]

You mis-spelled zotlots. This kind of error is frequently reduced by frobbing with just 1 tentacle.

Obligatory....

[i_want_you_to_throw_]

EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!

MOD THE PARENT UP!

[Demon-Xanth]

A classic Spaceballs quote cannot go de-modded.

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger, comedy is when you fall into an open manhole and die."
--Mel Brooks.

The body!

[TechyImmigrant]

So that's where Hans hid Nina's body.

flash

[rezac]

The red-eye flash on the Hubble must be burnt out.

Jupiter is (in) my pants

[xzqx]

Funny. The little white spot in my underwear just turned to a little red spot today.

Re:

[Beardo the Bearded]

I guess you're a big girl today. Congratulations.

Re:

[zero_offset]

Ah, good old slashdot. A cum-and-blood disease joke warrants a funny mod, whereas you get screwed with a flamebait mod for cleverly turning it into a joke about the miracle of the flow. Probably some foul smelling geek who wishes he went outside enough to play druid wiccan, which he imagines would mean he gets laid more often, but in reality means he'd just be a different kind of smelly hippie.

Having Metric Shitloads of excellent Karma is good, and the occasional troll can be invigorating. Do your worst, fi

Re:

[Khyber]

You might want to go see a doctor for that!

Oh shit!

[mazarin5]

The white spot on Jupiter turned red? I can't afford another kid right now!

Re: Jupiter's Little White Spot Turns Red

[alexo]

I'd suggest consulting a dermatologist.

Must... Fight... Bad.. Uranus... Spot... jokes...

[Anonymous Coward]

And man, does Uranus have spots!

Well, at least it is the spot on Jupiter

[twmcneil]

... and not the spot on Uranus.

Ding!

[Barlo_Mung_42]

Jupiter is done!
Come get it while it's hot!

i wonder if...

[justo]

it has something to do with jupiter's aurora [wikipedia.org] (beautiful, isn't it?)

Not down but up

[Anonymous Coward]

To the original poster:

  We have ten planets in our solar system. Since you can't count, I'll do it for you.

1. Mercury
2. Venus
3. Earth
4. Mars
5. Jupiter with new red spot.
6. Saturn, where the name Saturday came from.
7. Uranus
8. Neptune
9. Pluto, Dewarf PLANET.
10. Eris, Largest Dewarf Planet.

Actually...

[fonetik]

...I think this means that Jupiter is pregnant.

King of Pain...

[mloco]

There's a little red spot on Jupiter today, It's the same old thing as yester... Wait a minute. You mean it was *white* yesterday? :) Cheers, Mark

Stupidity, or stupidity?

[Anonymous Coward]

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

I want to shoot whoever wrote that sentence.

Re:

[ackthpt]

That the next colour is blue. It's the only way they could get Bush to fund the the space programme you see... the Pointless American TRIO (of colours) Trip Act.

Well, it is campaign season in the US and wind velocity has certainly increased and swirled between Capitol Hill and Florida, spinning, ever spining. But you know Bush doesn't want to see a Blue State on Jupiter. Or was astrology more the forte of the Reagans?

Re:

[TapeCutter]

"Or was astrology more the forte of the Reagans?"

I think the religious right started burning astrologers at the stake last week.

Re:

[bunions]

No, I think one more red planet is good for Bush. I don't think he'd be happy with more blue planets.