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The NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has made its stunning yearly observations of the Solar System\u2019s giant planets, to reveal atmospheric changes.<\/p>\n
The NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has completed its annual grand tour of the outer Solar System. This is the realm of the giant\u00a0planets\u00a0\u2014 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune \u2014 extending as far as 30 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. Unlike the rocky terrestrial planets like Earth and Mars that huddle close to the Sun\u2019s warmth, these far-flung worlds are mostly composed of chilly gaseous soups of hydrogen, helium, ammonia, and methane around a packed, intensely hot, compact core.<\/p>\n
Though robotic spacecraft have sent back snapshots of their visits to these four monster planets over the past 50 years, their swirling, colourful atmospheres are constantly changing. Fulfilling the role of a weather forecaster, every time Hubble\u2019s sharp cameras revisit these worlds there are new surprises, offering fresh insights into their wild weather, driven by still largely unknown dynamics taking place under the cloudtops.<\/p>\n
Hubble\u2019s snapshots of the outer planets reveal both extreme and subtle changes rapidly taking place in these distant worlds. Hubble\u2019s sharp view gleans insights into the fascinating, dynamic weather patterns and seasons on these gas giants and allows astronomers to investigate the very similar \u2014 and very different \u2014 variables that contribute to their changing atmospheres.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Hubble observations of\u00a0Jupiter\u00a0track the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere, where several new storms are making their mark and the planet\u2019s equator has changed colour yet again.<\/p>\n
Hubble\u2019s\u00a04 September photo<\/a>\u00a0puts the giant planet\u2019s tumultuous atmosphere on full display. The planet\u2019s equatorial zone is now a deep orange hue, which researchers are calling unusual. While the equator has departed from its traditional white or beige appearance for a few years now, scientists were surprised to find a deeper orange in Hubble\u2019s recent imaging, when they were expecting the zone to cloud up again.<\/p>\n Just above the equator, researchers note the appearance of several new storms, nicknamed \u201cbarges.\u201d These elongated, deeply structured red cells can be defined as cyclonic vortices, which vary in appearance. Whilst some of the storms are sharply defined and clear, others are fuzzy and hazy. This difference in appearance is caused by the physical properties within the clouds of the vortices.<\/p>\n Researchers also note that a feature dubbed \u201cRed Spot Jr.\u201d (Oval BA), below the Great Red Spot where Hubble just discovered\u00a0winds are speeding up, is still a darker beige colour, and is joined by several additional white, cyclonic storms to the south.<\/p>\n Hubble\u2019s crisp views of Jupiter in\u00a02020<\/a>\u00a0was one of the most popular ESA\/Hubble photo releases to date.<\/p>\n Hubble\u2019s\u00a0new look<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0Saturn\u00a0on 7 September 2021 shows rapid and extreme colour changes in the bands in the planet\u2019s northern hemisphere, where it is now early autumn. The bands have varied throughout Hubble observations in both\u00a02019<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a02020<\/a>. Hubble\u2019s Saturn image catches the planet following the southern hemisphere\u2019s winter, evident in the lingering blue-ish hue of the south pole.<\/p>\n Hubble\u2019s\u00a025 October view<\/a>\u00a0of Uranus puts the planet\u2019s bright northern polar hood in the spotlight. It\u2019s springtime in the northern hemisphere and the increase in ultraviolet radiation from the Sun seems to be causing the polar region to brighten. Researchers aren\u2019t sure why. It could be a change in the opacity of atmospheric methane haze, or some variation in the aerosol particles. Curiously, even as the atmospheric hood gets brighter, the sharp southernmost boundary remains at the same latitude. This has been constant over the past several years of Hubble observations of the planet. Perhaps some sort of jetstream is setting up a barrier at that latitude of 43 degrees.<\/p>\n In observations taken on\u00a07 September 2021<\/a>, researchers found that Neptune\u2019s dark spot, which was recently found to have\u00a0reversed course<\/a>\u00a0from moving towards the equator, is still visible in this image, along with a darkened northern hemisphere. There is also a notable dark, elongated circle encompassing Neptune\u2019s south pole. The blue colour of both Neptune and Uranus is a result of the absorption of red light by the planets\u2019 methane-rich atmospheres.<\/p>\n These new Hubble images form part of yearly maps of the entire planet taken under the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy programme, or\u00a0OPAL<\/a>. The programme provides yearly Hubble global views of the outer planets to look for changes in their storms, winds, and clouds.<\/p>\n Note: The planets are not shown to scale in this image.<\/p>\nSaturn<\/h5>\n
Uranus<\/h5>\n
Neptune<\/h5>\n
Notes<\/h4>\n