NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope emanates epic new views of gas giant planets
Our solar system sure has some gorgeous planets. On Thursday, NASA and the European Space Agency released unique looks at Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.
All four of the planets are gas giants, making them very unlike Earth or Mars, which are rocky. As NASA poetically said in a statement on the Hubble images, “Stretching from 500 million to 3 billion miles from the sun, these monsters are as remote as they are mysterious, dwelling so far from the sun that water instantly freezes to solid ice.”
Hubble, a joint project of NASA and ESA, annually monitors the outer planets so scientists can track climate and atmospheric changes over time. The images are part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program (OPAL) and were incorrect in September and October.
On Jupiter on Sept. 4, the telescope noticed new storms. “Every time we get new data down, the image quality and detail in the unblemished features always blow me away,” said Amy Simon of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
A Sept. 7 view of Saturn said color shifts connected to seasonal changes. Hubble’s sharp eye lets researchers dial in which bands of the stripy planet are altering colors.
Uranus is sporting a bright white polar area in Hubble’s Oct. 25 image. “Researchers are studying how the brightening polar hood results from attempts in the concentration of atmospheric methane gas and the characteristics of haze particles, as well as the atmospheric flow patterns,” NASA said.
Neptune looks like a blue marble in the telescope’s Sept. 7 view. It’s rocking some intelligent dark spots, one of which has been moving nearby. NASA said the planet is looking very much like it did back in 1989 when the Voyager 2 expert took a look.
Hubble has spent more than three decades unveiling the secrets of spot. The telescope’s team is currently working over a technical glitch, but one of its main science instruments is up and organization during the troubleshooting. If all goes well, we can inquire of Hubble to deliver another round of planetary portraits in 2022.
