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新手上路
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小 發表於 2009-3-24 14:32 只看該作者
(小)紅斑
Red Spot Jr.
影像版權與提供: Mike Salway
Explanation:
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a swirling storm seen for over 300 years, since the beginning of telescopic observations of the Solar System's ruling gas giant. But over the last month it has been joined by Red Spot Jr. Thought to be similar to the Great Red Spot itself, this not-so-great red spot was actually seen to form as smaller whitish oval-shaped storms merged and then developed the remarkable reddish hue. This webcam image showing the two red tinted Jovian storms was recorded on the morning of March 12 from the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia - part of a series showing Jupiter's rotation. Similar in diameter to planet Earth, Red Spot Jr. is expected to last for a while, and trails the Great Red Spot by about an hour as the planet rotates. Astronomers still don't exactly understand why Jupiter's red spots are red.
說明:
自從開始用望遠鏡觀測木星這顆太陽系最大的氣態巨行星，大紅斑就被發現了，至今已經盤旋超過三百年。但在上個月，它有了一個稱為小紅斑的伙伴。這個並不特別大的紅斑，特性可能和大紅斑相類，它是由數個較小的泛白橢圓形風暴系統合併而成的，後來才發展出令人訝異的紅色色澤。上面這二個紅色暴風系統的網路攝影機影像，是3月12日在澳洲、新威爾斯省的中部海岸拍攝的，它是本來為呈現木星自轉的一系列影像之一。小紅斑的直徑和地球相當，預期它會存在一段時間，隨著這顆行星自轉它在大約落後一小時的位置跟隨著大紅斑。天文學家到現在還是並不完全了解為何麼木星的紅斑會是紅色的。
資料來源: Scientific American
Department of Physics, NCKU
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