In the wake of a beautiful dark “Blood Moon” lunar eclipse some classic portraits of the Solar Systems’s four “giant planets”—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—have been sent back by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.
Orbiting Earth from 340 miles/547 kilometers out, the iconic space observatory has to contend with none of the perturbing hot air of Earth’s atmosphere.
The result is pin-sharp images of the closest huge planet—Jupiter—and incredible close-ups of the much more distant Saturn and incredibly remote Uranus and Neptune. They reveal dynamic weather patterns and changing seasons as these gas giants continue their long orbits around the Sun.
Comprising Hubble’s annual “grand tour of the outer Solar System”—and part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program (OPAL)—here are its stunning images in all of their glory (below):
Hubble’s Jupiter
First up is Jupiter, in an image (below) taken on September 4, 2021. Taking 12 years to orbit the Sun, Jupiter here displays a more reddish equator than expected. Several new storms have also appeared above its equator—visible as bright red “barges.”
“Every time we get new data down, the image quality and detail in the cloud features always blow me away,” said Amy Simon of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “It strikes me when I look at Jupiter, in the barges or in the red band right below, you can see cloud structures that are clearly much deeper.”
Hubble’s Saturn
It’s now early autumn on Saturn, which takes 29 years to round the Sun. In this image (below) taken on September 12, 2021 you can see extreme color changes in the bands in the planet’s northern hemisphere. Look at the south pole—fresh from winter—and you can see a blue-ish hue.
At the north pole you can see its strange hexagonal storm, which was hard to see last year yet is clearly evident in this image.
Hubble’s Uranus
This October 25, 2021 image (below) of the seventh planet from the Sun (which takes 84 years to orbit it), is dominated by its bright northern polar hood. It’s springtime in the northern hemisphere on Uranus and, as such, it’s tilted towards the Sun so receives a lot more ultraviolet radiation.
Hubble’s Neptune
What is that dark spot? This image (below) of the eighth planet from the Sun—which takes 165 years to orbit the Sun—was taken on September 7, 2021. It shows a dark storm in the planet’s dingy northern hemisphere, which was last seen moving towards the equator—but now appears to be going the other way. The storm, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, was born in the planet's northern hemisphere and discovered by Hubble in 2018.
This image also shows a dark circle encompassing Neptune’s south pole and some bright clouds on Neptune.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
