Reports Of The Great Red Spot's Death May Be Greatly Exaggerated

The Great Red Spot isn't as big as it used to be. Naturally, the conclusions many scientists (and me) came to is that the famed storm was dying. But according to new research, Jupiter may not be getting rid of the Great Red Spot any time soon.

We can only see the top of the storm. Duh. We haven't installed a weather station in the middle of the Great Red Spot. But because we can only get a visual assessment, when the Great Red Spot shrinks, it sure looks like its dissipating. But when scientists took a closer look at its behavior, it turns out that whatever is driving the storm is still going strong. In that regard, nothing has changed, and so long as the Great Red Spot's driving forces still exist, it isn't going anywhere.

"Impossible" Lunar Eclipse Happening Tonight

Lunar eclipses happen quite often.  There was one in April, and there are two more occurring in the near future.  There's one happening early Wednesday morning, October 8th.  This one is going to be different, and strictly speaking, impossible.  For a brief period of time along the eastern U.S., it will be possible to view both the lunar eclipse and the sun rising at the same time.  Since a lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is directly in between the moon and the sun, this shouldn't happen, and if there was no atmosphere, it wouldn't.  But thanks to refraction from the atmosphere as the sun rises and the moon sets, the light from both objects will be visible for several minutes while both in the sky.  The light from the moon will be hanging around after it has set, and light from the sun will appear before it has actually risen.

It promises to be a unique astronomical experience, and I'm actually going to be awake for it.  Unfortunately, it's probably going to be cloudy, so I won't be able to see it.  Which is annoying.  Thanks a lot, weather.

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