Starship Asterisk*

Idaho Astro wrote:I know I'm going to be accused of pedantry, but can we PLEASE stop referring to Jupiter as a "gas giant?" It's mostly (by mass or volume, take your pick) liquid. Just because hydrogen is a gas under terrestrial conditions, doesn't mean those conditions are relevant inside Jupiter.

geckzilla wrote:

Idaho Astro wrote:I know I'm going to be accused of pedantry, but can we PLEASE stop referring to Jupiter as a "gas giant?" It's mostly (by mass or volume, take your pick) liquid. Just because hydrogen is a gas under terrestrial conditions, doesn't mean those conditions are relevant inside Jupiter.

Haha. You want to change an astronomy term? Good luck with that. I'll keep complaining about planetary nebula and you can complain about gas giant.

4321lynx wrote:

Great Red Spot's diameter is still around 16,500 kilometers.

The Great Red Spot ( GRS ) , as we all know,is an oval and Wiki states at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Jupiter

The GRS rotates counter-clockwise, with a period of about six Earth days[73] or 14 Jovian days. Its dimensions are 24,000–40,000 km east-to-west and 12,000–14,000 km north-to-south. The spot is large enough to contain two or three planets the size of Earth. At the start of 2004, the Great Red Spot had approximately half the longitudinal extent it had a century ago, when it was 40,000 km in diameter. At the present rate of reduction, it could potentially become circular by 2040, although this is unlikely because of the distortion effect of the neighboring jet streams.[74] It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations

WordGeek wrote:It should be "Though it's been shrinking lately" not "Though its been shrinking lately."

Boomer12k wrote:If you click on his name, you go to his site, it is really good...and he uses a variety of scopes and cameras....basically 12-14inch Celestron. Small by some standards...it is really the CAMERA that makes the difference I think.

Idaho Astro wrote:I know I'm going to be accused of pedantry, but can we PLEASE stop referring to Jupiter as a "gas giant?" It's mostly (by mass or volume, take your pick) liquid. Just because hydrogen is a gas under terrestrial conditions, doesn't mean those conditions are relevant inside Jupiter.

LDeane wrote:The description says the photo was taken with a small telescope. Can you elaborate? What size? type? Cause that's an impressive picture!

WordGeek wrote:It should be "Though it's been shrinking lately" not "Though its been shrinking lately."

geckzilla wrote:

LDeane wrote:The description says the photo was taken with a small telescope. Can you elaborate? What size? type? Cause that's an impressive picture!

I can't find this specific picture of Jupiter on Damian's site (it probably hasn't been updated with the image yet) but there are comparable ones there and here is a page which tells about all of his telescopes and observing locations. http://www.damianpeach.com/observatory.htm

LDeane wrote:The description says the photo was taken with a small telescope. Can you elaborate? What size? type? Cause that's an impressive picture!

Great Red Spot's diameter is still around 16,500 kilometers.

The GRS rotates counter-clockwise, with a period of about six Earth days[73] or 14 Jovian days. Its dimensions are 24,000–40,000 km east-to-west and 12,000–14,000 km north-to-south. The spot is large enough to contain two or three planets the size of Earth. At the start of 2004, the Great Red Spot had approximately half the longitudinal extent it had a century ago, when it was 40,000 km in diameter. At the present rate of reduction, it could potentially become circular by 2040, although this is unlikely because of the distortion effect of the neighboring jet streams.[74] It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the change is a result of normal fluctuations