GRS shrinking.

[cotterless45]

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/jupiters-great-red-spot/

Certainly plenty here to think about,

Nick.

[Bart]

Thanks for posting, very interesting

Barry

[Mike73]

Thanks for posting that Nick.

Another good paper from John Rogers here which was on the BAA website. http://www.britastro.org/jupiter/JBAA-118-1_GRS-paper.pdf

So are we going to see a dissapearing GRS? Maybe some of the dark ovals will link up to create another super storm on Jupiter to take the GRS's place?

This is why I like Jupiter so much, its always changing and keeps you guessing.

[Laurie61]

I was having a conversation with my brother last year about this very subject, we could remember the GRS to be much easer to see when we started in the late 70's. This is a photo from our observing log, you can see the spot having a more elongated appearance than today. 

[Mike73]

Laurie that must be great to have your own observations and sketches going back to the 70's.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Very interesting, thanks for posting. It would be a shame if it went, but who knows what other features might develop over time?

[Laurie61]

Laurie that must be great to have your own observations and sketches going back to the 70's.

Yes, its nice to have a record of what we were doing back then. We kept logs for about 2 years or so and then it became a bit more hit and miss, so don't have detailed records from then until now unfortunately. For planetary observing today I will try and get an afocal shot as a reminder of the view on the night. 

[scarp15]

Intriguing phenomena, good read.

[John]

Jupiter is a pretty dynamic planet. I can recall 2 or maybe 3 years back the South Equatorial Belt all but vanished for several months. The GRS was still there, although not as pink as it is this year, but it had no hollow to nestle into in the SEB due to the latters disappearing act.

[Beulah]

I was having a conversation with my brother last year about this very subject, we could remember the GRS to be much easer to see when we started in the late 70's. This is a photo from our observing log, you can see the spot having a more elongated appearance than today. 

IMG_4341.png

If anyone ever asks why it's worth keeping an observation log, we need to refer then to this thread.  Excellent stuff.

[JamesF]

Interesting articles.  And isn't Damian Peach's image in that first one an absolute cracker?

James

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very intriguing. The trend might reverse, however. It is a very dynamic feature and might have changed a lot since 1800, but without images of the quality even amateur astronomers can now provide on a regular basis, we are only now in a good position to measure these effects with any accuracy

[animaal]

Wow, very interesting. Future When it's gone, future generations of stargazers might wish they could see a feature so visible on such a large planet. Or maybe Jupiter will have two red spots by then!

[paulastro]

I saw the article in S&T, and it prompted me to look at my drawings from the early 70s.  the change from that time to the present is quite dramatic.  I'd not really thought about it too much over the years, but before reading the article I had the impression that over the years either my eyesight was a lot worse than it used to be, or the GRS was rather smaller.  I'm rather gratified to know that that the latter is more responsible than the former!!