----- Submission 1 (Sun Mar 19 19:36:56 GMT 2006) ----- ----- Submission 2 (Mon Mar 20 04:26:07 GMT 2006) ----- Phase II Proposal 10783 (10873) successfully submitted. ----- Submission 3 (Mon Mar 20 04:54:29 GMT 2006) ----- Assigned ID: 744 ----- Submission 1 (Mon Mar 06 20:43:14 GMT 2006) ----- Phase I Proposal 744 (ASIMON_DD) successfully submitted. Rapid Response: Jupiter's White Oval Turns Red In the late 1930s, bright white clouds expanded and encircled Jupiter's southern hemisphere in a band near 33 degrees south planetographic latitude. As it cleared, the clouds collapsed into three large anticyclonic storms later named the White Ovals. These three storms were second in size only to the Great Red Spot, but unlike their larger counterpart, were covered with white clouds. In the mid to late 1990s these storms suddenly approached each other very closely, resulting in the 1998 merger of two of the storms. In 2000, the third oval also merged, leaving one remaining large White Oval. Early in 2006, amateur observers noted that the oval appeared to be changing in appearance and turning red. While small red spots do appear on Jupiter from time to time, they usually form as a colored spot, cloud over, and become white, rather than the opposite. We wish to observe this unexpected, and unprecedented, color change with ACS to compare to similar ACS observations that serendipitously observed the oval in January 2005 and to recent and upcoming ground-based observations. The ACS HRC observations would be the highest spatial resolution possible, while also offering a unique range of filters from the near UV to the near IR. Using the two ACS datasets, we will compare the vertical structure of the storm to determine how the mass loading of the clouds may have changed. This is useful in determining local energetics and dynamics, which play a strong role in the overall energy balance of the planet. Understanding these mechanisms on the giant planets will also help us to better model the atmospheres of unresolved extrasolar giant planets.
Target the new "red oval" using the ACS HRC. The oval's position is 290 deg W System III longitude on March 18. It is drifting eastward at ~ 0.24 deg/day (towards smaller System III W. longitude). Targeting time tolerance is approximately +/- 1 hour of central meridian crossing. The oval resides at 33 deg S. planetographic latitude, so the HRC FOV should be offset to ensure coverage of the southern hemisphere of the planet, if the entire disk does not fit in the FOV. SOLAR SYSTEM 0 false 0.0 false false false false false SUPPORTED SOLAR SYSTEM Target to ensure the southern hemisphere is visible, if the entire planet does not fit in the ACS HRC field-of-view. All longitudes are given in System III W. longitude, latitude is planetographic. The preferred central meridian longitude is given in the Level 2 Target requirement (based on March 18 location and with associated drift rate). The tolerance is +/- 30 deg. of that longitude, as indicated in the observing window BETWEEN window (based on March 18). The field of view can be offset slightly in the direction of the deisred longitude, to better center it, but that is not strictly required. PLANET Jupiter's Red Oval STD=JUPITER TYPE=PGRAPHIC,LONG=290.0,LAT=-33.0,R_LONG=-0.24,EPOCH=18-MAR-2006:00:00:00 CML OF JUPITER FROM EARTH BETWEEN 260.0 320.0 ACS/HRC Imaging No No F892N ACS/HRC Imaging No No F658N ACS/HRC Imaging No No F435W ACS/HRC Imaging No No F330W ACS/HRC Imaging No No F250W ACS/HRC Imaging No No F550M ACS/HRC RampFilter No No FR656N ACS/HRC Imaging No No F220W See comments under Target. We would like to schedule this orbit for as soon as possible, given the time-variable nature of Jupiter's atmosphere. (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10783 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20051113" :date "18-Mar-2006 20:27:39.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "27" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 423232 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10783 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10783 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 339 :si-vis-utilization 2864 :al-overhead-at-end 0 :internal-dur-at-end 179 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3236 :pcs-gap 0 ) false 1 0 /Users/amysimonmiller/Desktop/HSTCycle15/DD/OP-cache/ASIMON_DD-v01.xml