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NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope imaged both sides of the giant planet, Jupiter, on January 5-6, 2024.
NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)
Jupiter, in all its banded glory, captures both sides of the planet in these latest images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, taken Jan. 5-6, 2024. Hubble observes Jupiter and other outer solar system planets every year under the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program (OPAL). Because these large worlds are shrouded in clouds and stirred by violent winds, this creates a kaleidoscope of changing weather patterns.
[left image] – Big enough to engulf Earth, the classic Great Red Spot stands out prominently in Jupiter’s atmosphere. To its lower right, at a more southerly latitude, is a feature sometimes called the Red Spot Jr This anticyclone was the result of converging storms in 1998 and 2000 and first appeared red in 2006 before returning to pale beige in subsequent years. This year it is slightly red again. The source of the red color is unknown but may involve a range of chemical compounds: sulfur, phosphorus, or organic matter. Staying in their lane, but moving in the opposite direction, Red Spot Junior passes Great Red Spot about every two years. Another small red anticyclone is visible in the far north.
[Image at right] – Storm activity can also be seen in opposite hemispheres. A pair of storms, a deep red cyclone and a reddish anticyclone, appear next to each other right of center. They are so red that at first glance they look like the skin of one of Jupiter’s knees. These storms are rotating in opposite directions, indicating an alternating pattern of high- and low-pressure systems. For cyclones, there is an updraft in the middle where the cloud descends, thereby clearing the atmospheric fog.
The storms are expected to cross each other as the counterclockwise and counterclockwise rotations make them repel each other. “Many large storms and small white clouds are now a feature of much activity in Jupiter’s atmosphere,” said Amy Simon, head of the OPAL project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Towards the left edge of the image is the innermost Galilean moon, Io – the most volcanically active body in the Solar System, despite its small size (slightly larger than Earth’s Moon). Hubble resolves volcanic outflow deposits on the surface. Hubble’s sensitivity to blue and violet wavelengths clearly reveals interesting surface features. In 1979 NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft discovered Io’s pizza-like appearance and volcanoes, surprising planetary scientists because it is a small moon. Hubble picked up where Voyager left off after years of observing the unstable IO The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation for more than three decades and continues to make breakthrough discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international collaboration between NASA and ESA. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland operates the telescope. Goddard manages mission operations with Lockheed Martin Space in Denver, Colorado. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, manages Hubble and Webb science operations for NASA.
NOTE : Article source from NASA.