Stunning planet images from the Hubble Space Telescope

Every year, the famous American space telescope reviews the largest planets Solar system. The latest images delight with many unusual phenomena that occur in their dense atmospheres. Scientists z NASA, as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, took a closer look Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

As always, Jupiter’s most striking feature is Great Red Spot, that is, a storm that is larger than the Earth and has been raging there for centuries. However, what caught astronomers’ attention was the dark orange band around the equator. It’s usually cloudy white, but has seemed darker over the past few years. The team expected it to fade back to white now, but it’s more alive than ever.

Meanwhile, north of the runway, several brand new storms are brewing, visible as dark red dots in a pale cloud strip. Scientists believe that you can see cloud structures from deep inside the planet in these places. The Juno probe will take a closer look at them soon.

On Saturn, she is still the most characteristic a huge storm in the shape of a hexagonwho goes crazy at the North Pole. Interestingly, in 2020 it was hard to see, but this year it has already been beautifully outlined against the background of the dense atmosphere. The southern hemisphere is emerging from winter, which can still be seen as a pale blue area protruding from beneath the rings.

Uranus has become this year wonderful marble, with a bright white cap at the North Pole and a sharp blue ring in the center. The strange effect seems to be caused increased ultraviolet radiationas the northern hemisphere enjoys spring.

Astronomers are not sure if this is the effect of changing the transparency of methane in the atmosphere or if there is any other variation in the aerosol particles. The boundary between the blue and white areas has remained stable for several years at a latitude of 43 degrees, which may suggest that a strong jet stream has formed there.

This year’s weather shows a clear blue sky with very few visible white clouds. In the atmosphere, however, there is huge dark storm. It is visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the upper left corner of the photo. It was discovered in 2018. Then she did a diameter of 10,000 kilometers. Over the years, the storm has been heading towards the equator, but has recently changed course. Another dark circle can be seen around the south pole of the planet.

Analyzes of images of dark vortices showed that they spin counterclockwiseand their dark color is most likely the result of gases from the interior of the planet being sucked in and drawn into the upper atmosphere. Astronomers believe that the white vortices signal the appearance of the dark ones.

NASA scientists explain that studying how these worlds evolve over the years not only can tell astronomers a lot about them, but can also provide information on how to interpret newly discovered planets around distant stars. This means that the data will help us seek the other Earth more effectively.

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