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Current Issues of Interest (continued):
Jupiter loses its South Equatorial Belt -- 
(May 14, 2010) A major feature of Jupiter is its "Great Red Spot" with the sourrounding red brown bands of gas clouds. Well it looks like its South Equatorial Belt is simply gone! It started fading since last August. By November it was about half faded, and now it is for all pratical cases gone. Planetary scientists find themselves at a loss to explain what has happened to it.
This is not the first time this has happened. It occured previously in 1973 and 1991. That is a span of 18 years from 1973 to 1991, and 18 years from 1991 is 2009. No one yet knows if this is a normal 18 year cycle, but it is curious. One of the problems is that it disappered while Jupiter was on the other side of the Sun from us and we were not aware of it until it emerged in the morning sky this past March. See the full article at www.astronomy.com.
