John Rogers of the British Astronomical Society is always a wonderful source of insight as Jupiter changes its stripes (see his accounts of changes through the first ten Juno perijoves through to December 2017: https://britastro.org/node/7982), and this apparition has been no different, as he continues to comment on the images from amateur observers. At the same time, Marco Vedovato continues to update his database of Earth-based maps (http://pianeti.uai.it/index.php/Giove:_Mappe), with maps from Nov 2017 to today.
So far this year, he's noted "how rapidly the [North Equatorial Belt] is evolving, at least in this sector; the great waves have developed into a series of barges, and the northern half is rapidly fading. The dark brown NEB has receded so far southwards in this image that I begin to wonder whether it will become as narrow as in 2011-12, leading to another spectacular NEB Revival in 2019." The pattern of cyclones (dark) and anticyclones (white) on the northern edge of the NEB look absolutely spectacular - they're one of the end states of the NEB expansion and contraction phase that we saw throughout 2017.
The southern edge of the NTB (North Temperate Belt) continues to be a vivid red - maybe a photochemically-produced red haze as a result of the 2016 plume activity.
In the southern hemisphere, the rifting to the west of the Great Red Spot appears to be continuing.... this might be the "...resumption of normal convective ('rifting') activity there, in which case the [South Equatorial Belt] will probably not fade this year." There's also a deep-red barge sat in the brown SEB that appears rather dramatic.
Meanwhile, Juno is on its way for the 11th perijove encounter on February 7th, and with luck, we'll have a whole variety of Earth-based observatories (VLT included) pointing towards the giant planet...
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| January 16th 2018 image from Anthony Wesley. |
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