Pink oval in Jupiter's EZ 10-10-2010

[chrisrnuttall]

Hello

I decided to go out last night despite the BBC forecasting cloud, and I had a good session

It was cool, very still, slightly misty, and very dewey. The view was slightly soft most of the time, sharpening up everynow and then so that the detail on Jupiter was crisp and distinct.

Io was in transit as was its shaddow, I was surprised at how visible the moon was in the centre of the Planet's disc.

The SPR appeared dark brown with a lighter zone between it and the SSTB

The STB and SSTB both appeared to be disturbed towards the right had side of the disc, with many dark rifts.

The SEB was grey-ish with an uneven northern edge

The NEB was very active again with bright white rifts with darker edges.

The NTB had a series of dark rifts.

The NPR was brown and faded smoothly up into the disc.

The Equatorial zone was grey with very subtle rifting, but right in the centre was a large bright oval, the same size and shape as the GRS, considerably brighter than the rest of the zone and distinctly pale pink!

I have checked images of Jupiter over recent days and i can see a large disturbance in the EZ in the right area on the 6th, then in the SGL imaging section Riklaunim's images from the 8th show the area seems to be starting to brighten and turn pink.

I wonder if this area with become a proper oval of if it will fade away again?

CM1 164; CM2 353;

Time 21:40 BST

Date 10-10-2010

ORION SPx200

TV 2X Barlow with TV 8mm Plossl = 300X

Chris Nuttall

[DarkerSky]

Magic Chris!

An absolutely stunning sketch and description. Thank you!

I was out roughly the same time as you on the 10th and saw the same oval in the EZ, but didn't pick up on the pink colouration. In fact I saw a second less well defined oval to the right of the grey protrusion heading into the EZ from the NEB.

I have noted these EZ ovals before - going back to early July.

I'll post my version of events shortly

[Talitha]

Stunning indeed, Chris! Tremendous details, and the colors make it come alive.

[chrisrnuttall]

Seb

Glad someone alse saw it! I have been searching for webcam images of it from the same night and not really found anything that looked as clear and bright (although it is there).

I have never seen one before, are they usually long or short-lived?

[dweller25]

Nice drawing, I also saw this bright oval on the 10th as Seb did but it looked much larger than how I remembered the size of the GRS.

[chrisrnuttall]

Dweller

did you make a drawing?

I drew it a bit larger than the GRS would be, but not a lot. How big do you think it was?

[dweller25]

Chris, did not do a drawing as I had to be up early the next day so was rushing !!!

Sounds like Seb was out at the same time as me so he will probably post a drawing.

The GRS was not visible at the time but I remember thinking the white oval was very large - your drawing has it just right.