Our solar system features some pretty-looking planets. Now, NASA and the ESA have released fresh images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as captured by the legendary Hubble Space Telescope. All four planets are gas giants, making them very different from Earth and Mars, which are rocky.
“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,” NASA said on the images.
Capturing the gas giants in detail
Hubble, a joint venture of NASA and ESA, annually monitors the outer planets so astronomers can track weather and atmospheric changes over time. The images are part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program (OPAL) and were captured were taken in September and October.
Hubble noticed new storms on Jupiter on September 4. “Every time we get new data down, the image quality and detail in the cloud features always blow me away,” said Amy Simon of the Goddard Space Flight Center. A view of Saturn captured on September 7 revealed color shifts connected to seasonal changes.
As for the Uranus image, it can be seen sporting a bright white polar region in October 25 image. “Researchers are studying how the brightening polar hood results from changes in the concentration of atmospheric methane gas and the characteristics of haze particles, as well as the atmospheric flow patterns,” NASA said.
Hubble is in trouble yet again
A September 7 view of Neptune makes it appear like a blue marble. It shows some interesting dark spots, one of which has been moving around. NASA said the planet looks similar to how it did back in 1989 when the Voyager 2 mission captured it.
Hubble Space Telescope has been functional for over 30 years unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos. The telescope’s team is trying hard to get a technical glitch fixed. If things go as planned, we can expect Hubble to deliver another round of planetary portraits in 2022.
Engineers have reactivated the Advanced Camera for Surveys on November 7, but they’ll have to verify the output of the device before they enable any other affected components.
