Watch a stunning video of Jupiter rotate on its axis, as captured by a telescope

How cool is this?

Also interesting that the "red" spot isn't red....more of a cream color.

Enjoy!

news.yahoo.com...

Wonderful!

You can see the clound-bands moving in relation to each other. The winds must be ferocious!

You're right about the Red Spot. Its color has been steadily fading for most of my life. When I was a kid in the early '70s it had a vivid brick-red hue.

reply to post by Riffrafter


heres the video embeded for ya.. thanks for posting very cool.

reply to post by Riffrafter


I'm sure i read somewhere that the giant "red" spot had vanished...hmmm, wonder if i can find a link!

ETA: Appears i was wrong, only a belt vanished...

Originally posted by jrmcleod
reply to post by Riffrafter

 

I'm sure i read somewhere that the giant "red" spot had vanished...hmmm, wonder if i can find a link!

ETA: Appears i was wrong, only a belt vanished...

edit on 19/11/11 by jrmcleod because: (no reason given)

And has since returned, and can be seen in the above video.

reply to post by -W1LL


Thanks! I actually just did it myself too and then I saw yours...

It's a vid so nice, it's posted twice...

This is just beautiful.
Puts many things in perspective.

my normal camera can zoom in on jupiter enough to see it's biggest moon revolve around it

Very cool indeed.

I noticed at 43 seconds into the video there seems to be a line of blurriness running from the top of the planet to the bottom. All the clouds seem slightly distorted along that line.

Originally posted by jrmcleod
reply to post by Riffrafter

 

I'm sure i read somewhere that the giant "red" spot had vanished...hmmm, wonder if i can find a link!

ETA: Appears i was wrong, only a belt vanished...

edit on 19/11/11 by jrmcleod because: (no reason given)

I think there was a connection between the comet impact and the paling of the Great Red Spot. Does that sound right?

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
Very cool indeed.

I noticed at 43 seconds into the video there seems to be a line of blurriness running from the top of the planet to the bottom. All the clouds seem slightly distorted along that line.

Good catch. I had been looking for that and had not found it.

The video shows one and one-half rotation of Jupiter. Since its "day" is 10 hours, this equates to a nominal 15 hour period. However, since this is taken from a single observatory (Pic du Midi, in France), the planet would set before the whole video could be taken (there's also the little matter of a thing called "daylight" that would normally interfere, but since Jupiter was at opposition, it was rising when the Sun set and vice-versa). Thus it had to be taken over two or more nights, and we should expect a seam or a splice somewhere.

The article says that it was taken over 5 nights, so there are probably several such seams. I think I found another one near the end of the vid.

I'm just astounded by the clarity & resolution obtained by this 1-meter 'scope. The technology must've advanced to the point where it is nearly diffraction limited.

Originally posted by Saint Exupery
However, since this is taken from a single observatory (Pic du Midi, in France), the planet would set before the whole video could be taken

And thats the reason why, although I'd always intended to make such a video myself, it always seemed impossible to do.
Sure, you could stich several nights worth of video together, BUT the clouds bands at different latitudes dont orbit at exactly the same speed and they wont appear exactly the same from night to night. Any composite video of Jupiter over several nights is going to have to be artfully blurred together at the stitching seam.

Mars would be easier. There's probably a video somewhere, again a composite of several nights, but wont have this awkward problem.
Edit - HERE is such a video of Mars.
Now a day on Mars is only 40 minutes longer than earth, so on successive nights you see essentially much the same view you saw the previous night. To get the whole planet will take a few months, I imagine.

Does anyone know why we can't see any of the Galilean moons?

Originally posted by Threadfall
Does anyone know why we can't see any of the Galilean moons?

My guess is that the video was actually made by stitching together many images of Jupiter over a period of time and in making the vid, they may have simply focused on the planet itself in order to make it as seamless as possible.

Not sure if that's true - I'm just guessing here...

reply to post by Threadfall


It's more of a vid of Jupiter in the frame, most of the time the moons are at a further distance out than the field of view here. I would guess if it was taken over 5 nights then it was timed to highlight the planet itself and didn't want the moons in the FOV.
Another point is when wanting the moons to show you generally overexpose the avi so you have a regular exposure to show the planet and an overexposure to highlight the moons and then combine them but there is no reason they couldn't of done that, plus the shadows of the moons show up quite well on Jupiter.

Like I said I just think they didn't want to detract from the planet itself.

reply to post by pazcat


ty pazcat, that answer makes more sense to me then if it was due to the film splicing alone. I could understand why they would want to minimize their (the moons) appearances for this particular video featuring Jupiter, but I was surprised that they'd be completely absent.

reply to post by yourmaker


Yet this video does not show the moons revolving around jupiter

Or am i missing something?

Originally posted by Saint Exupery
Wonderful!

You can see the clound-bands moving in relation to each other. The winds must be ferocious!

You're right about the Red Spot. Its color has been steadily fading for most of my life. When I was a kid in the early '70s it had a vivid brick-red hue.

Yes - we're probably about the same age and I clearly remember the Red Spot being a very deep and vivid red.

My question is - why is not red now?

Did it contain an abundance of some element that shows red in the visible light spectrum and now no longer does? If so - what element and where did it go? Or is there something new there now that shows cream colored in the visible light spectrum which has overtaken the red?

I know it is said that the "red spot" is a giant storm that has been raging for hundreds of years. Is it just gas? Are there heavier dust or ice particles on Jupiter's surface too?

Hopefully someone with more knowledge in these areas can provide some info.

I do think that both Jupiter and Saturn are amazing though. The Cassini photo's of Saturn are mind-blowing too...