Disappearance and Resurgence of Jupiter’s Southern Equatorial Band

Abstract

Galileo’s first look at Jupiter through a telescope sparked his evidence that our solar system was heliocentric. Since then the observation of Jupiter has become incredibly widespread and frequent. Our initial goal was to produce high resolution images of Jupiter to be used for scientific research purposes. Once obtained, these images propelled individual research focused on the rapidly reappearing Southern Equatorial Band which had “disappeared” in May 2010 for the first time since 1990. The disappearance of the SEB, the revival of this band around the planet, and its path of progression will be examined.