Re-printed from NASA. Edits by EarthSky.
The NASA Hubble mission group launched this cool picture late within the day on November 2, 2023. It’s the enormous planet Jupiter in a coloration composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. The group stated it launched the picture in honor of Jupiter’s opposition this week, which occurs yearly, as Earth sweeps between Jupiter and the sun, inserting the planet reverse the sun in our sky. This view of the gas giant planet contains its iconic, huge storm known as the Nice Purple Spot. To the human eye, the storm appears pink. However this ultraviolet picture exhibits it as darker, the scientists stated, as a result of high-altitude haze particles take up mild at these ultraviolet wavelengths.
The reddish, wavy polar hazes are absorbing barely much less of this mild attributable to variations in both particle measurement, composition, or altitude.
The information used to create this ultraviolet picture is a part of a Hubble proposal that checked out Jupiter’s stealthy superstorm system. The researchers plan to map deep water clouds utilizing the Hubble information to outline 3D cloud constructions in Jupiter’s ambiance.
Hubble has a protracted historical past of observing the outer planets. From the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts to finding out Jupiter’s storms, Hubble’s decades-long profession and distinctive vantage level present astronomers with precious information to chart the evolution of this dynamic planet.
Hubble’s ultraviolet-observing capabilities permit astronomers to check the brief, high-energy wavelengths of sunshine past what the human eye can see. Ultraviolet mild reveals fascinating cosmic phenomena, together with mild from the most well liked and youngest stars embedded in native galaxies; the composition, densities, and temperatures of the fabric between stars; and the evolution of galaxies.
It is a false-color picture as a result of the human eye can’t detect ultraviolet mild. Subsequently, colours within the seen mild spectrum have been assigned to the photographs, every taken with a unique ultraviolet filter. On this case, the assigned colours for every filter are: Blue: F225W, Inexperienced: F275W, and Purple: F343N.
Backside line: The large planet Jupiter reached opposition this week, coming closest to Earth for the 12 months. In celebration, NASA launched this ultraviolet view of Jupiter.
