Imaged Jup in fair conditions seeing 6/10. Over the last few weeks a small white oval and red spot in the NNTZ at CMII 320 degrees, have been coming together and have merged. I have posted an image from Sept 14th in which the white oval and red spot can be seen close by just to the right or west of the white spot in the NNTZ and in my image from tonight they have merged, the red spot is now more bloated and much lighter in colour.
The result of the merger has left a thin white ring around the original red spot or oval.
It helps to blink between these two images to see the result of the merger. The two features in question are in the lower part of the image or Northern temperate zone, in the earlier image the small bright white spot is clearly separated from small red feature, which looks a bit like a dust storm. In the image from Sept 28th both features have merged, the red oval is larger and an overall lighter colour with a thin white line outlining it, from the original small white oval.
Thanks for looking.
Regards
Trevor
Last edited by Quark; 29-09-2009 at 03:21 PM.
Reason: more info
Very nicely done, Trevor. Excellent images yet again.
Thanks very much Mike, I suppose these merger events must happen pretty frequently but this is the first time I have imaged one. These two features have been coming closer together over the last few weeks.
I had previously imaged them on Sept 14th with clear separation between them, Brian Combs imaged them in contact with one another on Sept 25th and in my image from last night, Sept 28th, the merger is complete. That seems to have been a very rapid process indeed. I was very pleased to capture this as I will not be imaging again for about 3 weeks.
The evolution of the SL9 impacts and the Bird Strike have evolved over considerable time, about 3 months, this merger has occurred in just a few days. Have you seen events such as this occur previously in such short time scales?
Quote:
Originally Posted by leon
Trevor I'm not much of a Planet imager, well actually not at all, but you certainly know your stuff, fine capture indeed.
Leon
Thanks Leon, Saturn is my main interest but I am contributing what I can with Jupiter until Saturn comes out from behind the Sun. There seems to be a lot more professional interest in the dynamics of Jupiter's atmosphere and interest from these people in amateur data on it.
Jupiter is a much more dynamic world with considerably more atmospheric activity than Saturn and I am learning more about it as I go.
That red oval I must have captured 10 or 20 times over the years. It is fascinating to see it change as it has. Nicely captured. I now know which one John was talking about.
Great work - looking forward to seeing your Saturn - rings opening the other way.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Matt, yes, I am really looking forward to becoming reacquainted with Saturn, I haven't imaged it since July 20th and that was through the top of a palm tree in my next door neighbors back yard. I hope bigger and better electrical storms are brewing for the next apparition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lester
Hi Trevor, great capture of the merger.
Thanks for the view. Still cloudy here.
Thanks Lester, John Rogers put out an alert, asking for high res images of the merger and I was just fortunate with the weather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
That red oval I must have captured 10 or 20 times over the years. It is fascinating to see it change as it has. Nicely captured. I now know which one John was talking about.
Thanks Paul, this merger really did seem to happen very quickly and it is the first one I have imaged. Have you seen this sort of phenomena previously happen so quickly?
Never get tired of reading these great posts Trevor. Does make me feel guilty to chasing "nice picccies" rather than doing more serious work like you describe.
Trevor, actually that red spot that was gobbled up last year by the GRS was pretty exciting. One day it was there and one day it was gone. Yeah that is pretty fun to capture this. Well done again.
Never get tired of reading these great posts Trevor. Does make me feel guilty to chasing "nice picccies" rather than doing more serious work like you describe.
(where's the emoticon for a salute.....?)
Nothing wrong with making nice piccies, it wasnt that long ago that I thought it was only possible to achieve one or the other, however now I have come to believe that it is possible to produce images of scientific value that also have aesthetic appeal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Haese
Trevor, actually that red spot that was gobbled up last year by the GRS was pretty exciting. One day it was there and one day it was gone. Yeah that is pretty fun to capture this. Well done again.
Thanks Paul, I look at the frenetic action that can occur in the SEB & NEB and sort of expect mergers and the like to occur, however closer to the poles has to me, seemed a more placid region and I didn't expect this to pan out as it has.
