Jupiter maps

Bill J. Gray Sep 3, 2001

From Rafael's suggestion of the CICLOPS page, I was able to get a
reasonably good cylindrical map of Jupiter based on Cassini data. That
image, processed into Guide's weird .QWE format, plus a reprocessed
version of the "original" Voyager data (flipped to run the right way),
are at

http://www.projectpluto.com/jup_map.zip (about 234 KBytes)

The page cited by Jari shows the disk of Jupiter with schematic bands
and zones. If you turn "features on" for Jupiter right now, you can
actually get such bands right now, shown with line-art graphics, much
as craters are on the moon. I'm tempted to extend the bands shown in this
manner and add in labels such as "STrZ", which could even be clicked on
for "more info", much as lunar craters can be. (In this case, "more info"
would probably just be "STrZ = South Tropical Zone".)

I hesitate, though, because it looks as if there may be some problems
with the latitude system in use in Guide for Jupiter. I'm not really sure
if Guide is wrong, or the Cassini image, or the Voyager image. But I
think somewhere along the line, the difference between geocentric and
geodetic (okay, jovicentric and jovidetic) latitudes is causing grief.
Depending on how that works out, Guide is either showing mid-latitude
features as being too far from the poles, or too far from the equator.
(Or maybe I even got things right. This one needs some work/thinking.)

-- Bill