[BAA-ebulletin 00979] The Great Red Spot as Juno flies in

[BAA electronic bulletins service]

 Jupiter's Great Red Spot as Juno flies in
The Juno orbiter isdue to fly about 9000 km above the centre of the Great Red Spot (GRS) on Mondaynight, about 12 minutes after its closest approach to the planet on July 11 at01:55 UT.  NASA have posted two pressreleases, one about the fly-over, 
and oneshowing some superb mid-infrared images of the GRS taken by Dr Glenn Orton andcolleagues on May 18 (and earlier). 
Theseimages can be compared with superb visible-light views taken by Christopher Goon May 19, one of which is shown in a new report posted on the Jupiter Section web pages (BAA web site > Jupiter Section > Jupiter in 2016-17 > Report no.13;  unfortunately these e-bulletins cannot give links). 
Chris Go's high resolution revealedthe regular pattern within the GRS, whose internal rotation could be observedover less than an hour, as shown in an animation of maps made by MichelJacquesson. The report also shows a very recent image of the GRS (by Gary Walker), which is atexactly the predicted longitude to be below Juno’s track.  A preview of the July 11 flyby (Perijove-7)was posted on the Section web pages as Report no.12. Meanwhile,the best ground-based image of Jupiter ever taken was produced onJune 11 by Damian Peach with a team of observers using the 1-metre telescope atthe Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees.  They were holding a EuroPlanet-sponsoredworkshop to promote use of the telescope by advanced amateurs, and produced anequally outstanding image of Saturn.  TheJupiter image does not show the GRS, but it does show red oval BA and a wealthof intricate detail in many other features. 
Note to members:
We are posting items on the BAA Jupiter Section web pages quitefrequently during this apparition with the Juno mission ongoing, but rarelysend out e-bulletins. So if you would like to keep up-to-date with Jupiter andJuno, please either check the BAA webpage and Section web page weekly, orfollow ‘BAA Jupiter Section’ on Facebook, orcontact the BAA Jupiter Section Director via the BAA web site to become amember of the Section and of our emailing list.
John Rogers

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John H. Rogers,  
Jupiter Section Director, 
British Astronomical Association.
https://www.britastro.org/section_front/15
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