Posted by Heba El-Sayed
Sunday, March 26, 2023 06:00 PM
Pass planets Others in the solar system also have different seasons of weather like Earth, depending on its distance from the sun, which affects its climate, and in this context, one of the many functions of the Hubble Space Telescope is to monitor the changing seasons on other planets, especially the larger exoplanets that are not observed much.
This week, scientists released their latest views of Jupiter and Uranus, taken by Hubble, showing seasonal changes on the two planets.
Jupiter is far from the sun, so most of its heat comes not from the outside but from the inside, Digitartlends reported.
Jupiter is thought to have a very high core temperature, which may be a result of how it formed but could also be outpaced by processes within the planet.
As this heat escapes from the planet’s interior, it affects its atmosphere, which has multiple layers and has unusual features such as geometric storms at its poles.
In the latest Hubble image, Jupiter is experiencing storms across a portion of the northern hemisphere near the equator, with wave-like formation of cyclones and anticyclones crossing the planet.
In the image you can also see Io as a small orange circle, casting a black shadow to the left of the planet.
For Uranus, the image beautifully captures the planet’s rings and white haze over the planet’s pole.
Uranus is unusual in that it is almost completely turned so that it rotates on its side, unlike Earth and most other planets which rotate upright.
This is why the polar haze can be seen on the right side of the planet.
The haze is thought to come from the polar cap, which changes dramatically over the seasons.
Astronomers are still learning how this cap changes over time, and it is believed that it will become brighter as the North Pole turns toward Earth during the planet’s northern summer solstice in 2028.
If you head to the ESA Hubble website, you can also see side comparisons of Jupiter in November 2022 and January 2023, and Uranus in November 2014 and November 2022, showing how the planets’ appearance has changed over time.
