A New Dark Spot On Jupiter

Planets Change!

Image of dark spot on Jupiter, captured by Anthony Wesley on July 19, 2009 at 1554UTC from Murrumebateman, Australia.  Click to embiggenate.
Image of Jupiter with new dark spot in the southern polar regions, captured by Anthony Wesley on July 19, 2009 at 1554UTC from Murrumbateman, Australia. Click to embiggenate.

The big news today (July 19) is that Jupiter seems to have a dark spot in its south polar region.  The first images, posted by Australian amateur observer Anthony Wesley, ripped around the Web at the speed of light and have caught everybody’s attention.  Is this dark spot a storm? Evidence of some weather event stemming up from the lower atmosphere? An impact site?

The best way to tell would be image the planet in infrared, which I’m sure is happening as I write this. There are a number of infrared-enabled observatories that probably can look at this thing as a “target of opportunity.”

Regardless of what it is, observers will watch this thing as it rotates around the planet over the next few days to see track changes in its size and appearance.

This does look reminiscent of the impact sites created when pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into the Jovian cloud tops in 1994.  As more astronomers look at this thing and follow its progress, we will certainly figure out whether or not this is an impact or a very cool new atmospheric feature forming in the upper cloud decks of the planet. Either way, it’s a great find for Anthony and a boon for planetary observers around the world.

Humanity’s Moon

Focus on our Nearest Neighbor in Space

The Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, as imaged by U.S. amateur astrophotographer Mark Sibole of Fife Lake, Michigan. Its part of the Moon for all Mankind IYA/Malta mosaic. Click to embiggen.
The Sea of Tranquillity, where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed, as imaged by U.S. amateur astrophotographer Mark Sibole of Fife Lake, Michigan. It's part of the "Moon for all Mankind" IYA/Malta mosaic. Click to embiggen.

The Moon is in the news for good reason.  This week marks the 40th anniversary of the 1969 lunar landing, where three humans walked on the Moon for the first time. NASA is releasing new footage of that landing, plus sponsoring a number of events commemorating it.

Planetariums are having public events as well, and there’s a wealth of info online about the mission.

Over at  Universe Today, Nancy Atkinson has posted a number of links about the Apollo mission — all worth checking out!

One of the neatest online projects (among the many neat ones) about the Moon is the IYA’s Malta “Moon for all Mankind” image, comprising images (and at least one sketch) of the Moon from around the world.

The Moon for All Mankind IYA Image. Click to embiggen.
The Moon for All Mankind IYA Image. Click to embiggen and by all means, visit the website for a larger image you can print out!

The IYA has organized a number of events for the year, with a special emphasis on the Moon and our ongoing exploration of this rocky body. We’ve long been interested in the Moon, and for centuries all we had were our eyes to study it with. The invention of the telescope revealed incredible detail, and all those features confirmed in observers’ minds that this mysterious thing in the sky was another place — one that could be explored, in time.

The first spacecraft to actually land on the Moon was the Russian Luna 2 probe. It slammed into the surface on September 14, 1959. Today, 50 years and many, many spacecraft from six countries later, we’re still exploring the frozen lava seas and cratered surface of our nearest neighbor in space.

Keep an eye out over the next few days for more imagery, re-released image sets and videos from NASA, and news stories about the Moon and our ongoing exploration.

LRO shows us the Apollo 11 landing site, and the Eagle Lander.  Bart Sibrel, eat your heart out!!
LRO shows us the Apollo 11 landing site, and the Eagle Lander. Bart Sibrel, eat your heart out!!

One of the most exciting image collections (just released today (Friday, July 17) comes from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, showing five of the six Apollo landing sites, including the landers.  Those landing sites were selected to give scientists a good look at various parts of the lunar surface. Astronauts set up instruments, took rock and dust samples, and many, many wonderful images of the lunar landscape. The set also shows Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 landing sites, plus evidence for all the instruments set up at the  Apollo 14 site.

These images are not just blasts from the past, according to NASA. They tell us in a most visceral way that “we were there” and that “we want to go back.” LRO’s images are giving detailed information about past  landing sites as a way to determine future places where astronauts can settle in for a long-term study of the Moon.