Jupiter loses a stripe - space - 11 May 2010 - New Scientist: "Jupiter has lost one of its prominent stripes, leaving its southern half looking unusually blank. Scientists are not sure what triggered the disappearance of the band."
The bands may normally appear dark simply because pale, high-altitude clouds prevalent in other regions of the planet are missing there, revealing darker clouds below, says Glenn Orton of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "You're looking into different layers of the cloud structures of the planet," he told New Scientist.
The disappearance of the belt comes at a time of widespread – but mysterious – change on Jupiter, which has seen changes to the colour of other bands and spots in its atmosphere. "There has been a lot going on," Orton says.
Comment -- I haven't seen Jupiter through my scope for quite a while. I'll look soon to see if I notice the lack of a stripe.
For thousands of years, humans thought the heavens were perfect and unchangeable. The invention of the telescope changed that notion.
By the way, did you know that Jupiter is 1,331 times bigger than the Earth?
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