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1993-05-03
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PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 9ll09. (8l8) 354-50ll
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 10, l989
The planet Jupiter, scientific objective of NASA's Galileo
mission, scheduled for launch this week, has recently exhibited
dramatic changes in a major atmospheric feature.
Complementary observations made at the NASA Infrared
Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea and at the Tortugas Mountain
Observatory near Las Cruces, New Mexico, show that the South
Equatorial Belt, a dark feature circling Jupiter just north of
the Great Red Spot, has faded out.
This change which appears to involve mid-level clouds,
occurred over a few months during the past summer. The
corresponding North Equatorial Belt remains dark, and Jupiter's
high cloud layer and stratosphere also appear unchanged.
The infrared observations were carried out by an
International Jupiter Watch team organized by Dr. Glenn Orton, a
planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and a
member of Project Galileo's science team, with the cooperation of
many scientists.
Concurrent observations in visible (blue-green) light and in
the near-infrared band associated with atmospheric methane were
made by Dr. Reta Beebe, Scott Murrell and David Kuehn of New
Mexico State University in Las Cruces. They used the
University's 24-inch telescope at Tortugas Mountain with a JPL -
provided CCD sensor. Dr. Beebe is a member of the Voyagerimaging team.
The observations were a part of NASA's Planetary Astronomy
Program, which carries out Earth-based research to complement the
spacecraft-based exploration of the solar system.
This brightening of normally dark belts has occurred at
various Jovian latitudes at various times in the past, and many
astronomers have observed it in visible light.
The South Equatorial Belt faded in the early l970s, when
Pioneer l0 and ll flew by Jupiter, but turned dark again in
l974 and remained so through both Voyager encounters and until
April l989, according to Dr. Orton.
"This is the first time we have been able to correlate
thermal infrared, methane-band and visible-light images of the
change, and over so large a region," he said.
The Galileo mission is designed to study Jupiter's
atmosphere in many ways. Galileo's atmospheric probe will
descend slowly through the cloud layers in December l995. The
Galileo orbiter, after observing Jupiter for months as it
approaches, will study the planet in many wavelengths from
ultraviolet to infrared and radio bands during a 1995-l997
orbital tour.
Project Galileo is managed by JPL for NASA's Office of Space
Science and Applications, which also manages the Planetary
Astronomy Program.
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