In just under a year, Jupiter has lost its Southern Equatorial Belt. Scientists have no idea why this has happened and they remain baffled.
Scientists across the globe are in panic, as Jupiter has lost one of its stripes. This is akin to one day looking through a powerful telescope and noticing Saturn is missing a ring, or that Mars has turned blue.
Jupiter is a giant planet full of gas and liquid, its distance from the Sun being some 500 million miles. We know Jupiter’s surface to be composed of dense red, brown yellow and white strata of cloud formations. Each of these cloud zones are referred to as belts.
Data extrapolation from thermodynamic charting reveals that the highest of these clouds, the natural white layers, are made of crystals from frozen ammonia.
The darker clouds are naturally made from more impure, dirty chemicals, such as phosphorous and sulfur. High winds and torrential storms on Jupiter’s surface blow these clouds into the formations we are used to seeing.
As astronomers race to theorize why Jupiter has lost a stripe, we are left to wonder if any cataclysmic change on Jupiter could have affect on any other parts of our solar system.