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Emily Lakdawalla • Aug 01, 2011

Jupiter's southern belt is coming back

In a story that I've been following for quite a while, Jupiter's southern equatorial belt, having faded to white in 2009, is now well on its way back to its former red glory. As usual, I find Christopher Go's website to be great for checking in on the weather on the king of planets!

Jupiter on July 12, 2011 (with bonus Ganymede)
Jupiter on July 12, 2011 (with bonus Ganymede) Image: Christopher Go, Cebu, Philippines

With Juno about to launch this week it's an interesting question which Jupiter it'll find when it arrives in five years. According to research on the topic by Agustin Sanchez-Lavega and J. M. Gomez, the fading occurs every 3 to 14 years; so it's certainly possible that it could happen again by the time Juno gets there.

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