The Hubble Space Telescope has spent more than three decades providing some of the most incredible images of the known universe, but it’s only in the past decade that scientists have set their sights on the outer planets of our solar system, observing them like never before.
For the past decade, NASA’s Outer Planet Atmosphere Legacy Program (OPAL) has been acquiring detailed views of long-term changes in the skies of the four closest giant stars to Earth: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, each with a Unique collection of atmospheric variables. OPAL data allows astronomers to observe weather patterns and seasons on these exoplanets to better understand their dynamics and changes over time.
Hubble is capable of observing wavelengths of light from ultraviolet to near-infrared and regularly provides high-resolution images of the gas giants once a year as each of their orbits brings them closest to Earth. Now, after a decade of operation, NASA’s Hubble OPAL team will American Geophysical Union December meeting in Washington, D.C.
“Because OPAL now spans 10 years and counting, our database of planetary observations continues to grow. This longevity allows not only for serendipitous discoveries, but also for tracking long-term atmospheric changes as planets orbit the sun. The use of these data Scientific value is highlighted with more than 60 publications containing OPAL data to date,” Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said in a report statement.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Gases in the planet’s atmosphere are churned all the way to its core, tens of thousands of miles above the cloud tops. In addition to its size, Jupiter also because of Great red spot. The distinctive red swirls on the gas giant’s surface are the largest storms in the solar system. A raging typhoon nearly three times the size of the Earth.
Jupiter takes 12 years to orbit the Sun, allowing OPAL to observe almost all of Jupiter’s seasons. During that time, significant changes have been observed in the size and shape of the Great Red Spot, as well as other atmospheric phenomena in the belt surrounding the gas giant. According to NASA, Jupiter’s seasonal changes are minimal because its axial tilt is only three degrees, causing the atmosphere to vary only about five percent in its orbit. (Earth, on the other hand, has an axial tilt of about 23.5 degrees, which causes our planet to experience different seasons.)
Saturn
Saturn It takes more than twice as long to orbit the Sun, with an orbital period lasting 29 years. Compared to Jupiter, the ringed giant is tilted at a much greater angle of 26.7 degrees, resulting in much greater seasonal variations. Over a decade of observations, OPAL tracked changes in color and cloud depth in Saturn’s atmosphere over the seasons.
Hubble will also be able to observe Saturn’s elusive dark ring spokes. First discovered by NASA Voyager mission In the 1980s, these dark rings orbited Saturn only two or three times. Thanks to Hubble, astronomers now know that the rings are a seasonally driven phenomenon.
Uranus
Uranus is tilted almost entirely to one side, its rotation almost in the same plane as the planet’s orbit around the Sun, which lasts an astonishing 84 years.
Over the past decade, OPAL has observed Uranus’s northern hemisphere, which faces the inner solar system as it slowly tilts toward the Sun throughout its time in Hubble. As the Uranian hemisphere approaches the 2028 summer solstice, Uranus’ north polar cap continues to grow in brightness during its slow orbit around the Sun.
Neptune
A storm similar to a giant black blob the size of Earth’s Atlantic Ocean has been spotted in the atmosphere. Neptune In 2018, Hubble tracked the storm until it died out near the planet’s equator.
Another time in 2021 observed through its formation and similar equatorial dissipation. Using Hubble’s OPAL data, scientists were able to determine that the Neptune cloud behaves in some way similar to 11-year solar cycleresponsible for the recent low latitude aurora borealis on earth.