The Hubble Space Telescope has looked at Jupiter and the pictures reveal a world battered by some of the most powerful storms.
The flying observatory looked at Jupiter on January 5 and January 6, 2024, to capture both sides of the planet as it was shrouded in clouds and haze stirred up by violent winds.
The spacecraft captured the Great Red Spot, a perpetual storm, that is so big it could swallow Earth, and the Red Spot Jr, a feature at a more southerly latitude on the planet. Nasa said that this anticyclone was the result of storms merging in 1998 and 2000, and it first appeared red in 2006 before returning to a pale beige in subsequent years.
While scientists are yet to figure out the reason for the red colour of this storm, sulfur, phosphorus, or organic material could be involved. Meanwhile, the Red Spot Jr. passes the Great Red Spot about every two years.
The opposite side of the planet is also marred by heavy stormy activity. A pair of storms, a deep red cyclone and a reddish anticyclone, appear next to each other at the right of the centre. They look so red that at first glance, it looks like Jupiter skinned a knee.
“The many large storms and small white clouds are a hallmark of a lot of activity going on in Jupiter’s atmosphere right now,” said OPAL project lead Amy Simon.
The Hubble Space Telescope images were then used to create the animated science visualisation, which shows the full rotation of the giant planet Jupiter.
Nasa said while this is not a real-time movie. Instead, Hubble snapshots of the colourful planet, taken January 5-6, 2024, have been photo-mapped onto a sphere, and the model is then rotated in animation.
The planet’s real rotation rate is nearly 10 hours, which is easily plotted by watching the Great Red Spot come and go with each completed rotation.
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
