It's school picture day for our solar system's distant planets. Every year, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope takes pictures of Jupiter, Neptune, and other planets. The images capture mysterious changes in the planets' weather and colors, both exciting scientists and sometimes leaving them scratching their heads.
Hubble is the most powerful space telescope. It has photographed births and deaths of stars, spotted new moons, and tracked objects in our solar system. Calculating the age and expansion of the universe has been made easier by its observations.
Hubble's portraits show visible changes in the atmosphere of each planet. These outer worlds are constantly changing as tumultuous bands of gases and gargantuan storms rise, fall, change color, and reverse directions over months or years. The latest images were taken by Hubble in September and October.
Michael Wong is a planetary scientist.
Wong, who studies Hubble data on outer planets at the University of California, Berkeley, told Insider in an email that there can be different explanations for atmospheric changes.
New storms and changing seasons are spotted by Hubble.
In 1997 Hubble was on Earth.
NASA.
There are new storms in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter.
The newest portrait shows Jupiter's equator has darkened to a deep orange hue. The Jovian equator has changed its color before, but the planet's middle belt is usually white or beige.
Wong thinks that this may be part of a climate cycle on Jupiter that repeats every six to eight years. torial reddening events last three years.
Hubble took pictures of Jupiter in 2020. There are storm vortexes.
NASA/Insider
Hubble's portrait of Jupiter shows the Great Red Spot in a vibrant color. The spot, a raging storm that has been observed by sceptics for about 200 years, is up to 310 miles deep according to data taken by NASA's Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft in 2019.
The blackness of space is against the colorful bands of the moon. The planet's southern hemisphere appears blue, indicating that it was winter in the south when the photo was taken.
On September 12, 2021, Hubble took a photo of Saturn.
Amy Simon, Michael H. Wong, and Alyssa Pagan are all from NASA.
The image also shows four of the moons. Tethys, Mimas, Enceladus, and Dione are among its largest satellites.
NASA annotated Hubble's portrait of the planet, which shows four of its moons: Tethys, Mimas, Enceladus, and Dione.
Michael H. Wong, Amy Simon, and Alyssa Pagan are all from NASA.
The portraits of Uranus and Neptune are not as crisp because they are far away from Earth. Scientists can still see changes in their atmospheres.
When the northern region gets more UV radiation from the sun, it appears to be brighter.
On October 25, 2021, Hubble took a photo of Uranus.
Amy Simon, Michael H. Wong, and Alyssa Pagan are all from NASA.
Researchers are studying the seasonal brightening of Uranus. The change in color may be related to changes in the atmosphere.
The northern regions of Neptune are turning dark in the portrait of 2021. The solar system's bluest marble is getting bigger.
The Dark Spot is on the left side of the planet's picture. Neptune's dark areas are not yet clear.
Some of the planet-encircling dark areas are related to the dark spots. Wong said it's uncertain if other dark areas are related.
The photo of Neptune was taken by Hubble.
Amy Simon, Michael H. Wong, and Alyssa Pagan are all from NASA.
The Dark Spot, which is larger than the Atlantic Ocean, had changed directions. It was inching south, where Neptune's biggest storms go to die, but suddenly changed course and moved north again in August 2020. Scientists don't know why that is.
A lot of these questions could be answered by sending probes to the giant planets and making measurements inside the atmosphere. NASA's budget is limited, so even a single probe most likely wouldn't have all the instruments needed to measure cloud particles in detail.
Private space companies with bigger budgets don't seem to be interested in exploring the outer planets. Blue Origin, which flew founder Jeff Bezos to the edge of space in July, is trying to build settlements closer to Earth.
I think Jeff Bezos' personal net worth of $200-plus billion would be enough to send 20 to 50 atmospheric entry probes to Jupiter. Wong said that the nation has only been able to afford one probe to Jupiter, and that they are trying to answer as much as they can with the data available to them.
