NASA's Hubble Telescope snaps Jupiter's Great Red Spot | Tech News

NASA's Hubble Telescope snaps Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Jupiter has a great Red Spot, which is a vast ancient storm, spinning like a cyclone that is some 2 times the size of planet Earth. Here is what NASA's Hubble Telescope has captured.

By: HT TECH
| Updated on: Mar 10 2023, 21:09 IST
What is your favourite Hubble Telescope image? NASA wants to know
NASA Hubble Space Telescope
1/5 If you are interested in space, you must be excited about all the images shared by the various space telescopes. In 2022, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured and shared several beautiful images. And NASA wants to know which one is your favourite Hubble Telescope image of 2022? In its latest Twitter post, NASA's Hubble Telescope has shared 4 images released in 2022 and has asked to vote for your favourite image. It can be known that the four images shared by the Hubble Space Telescope are of DEM L 190, NGC 976, HCG 40, and Terzan 2. (Hubble Space Telescope)
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2/5 DEM L 190, is a remnant from a massive star that died in a supernova blast whose light would have reached Earth thousands of years ago. This filamentary material will eventually be recycled into building new generations of stars. Our own sun and planets are constructed from similar debris of supernovae that exploded in the Milky Way billions of years ago, according to NASA. (Hubble Space Telescope)
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3/5 The galaxy NGC 976 lies around 150 million light-years from the Milky Way in the constellation Aries. Despite its tranquil appearance, NGC 976 has played host to one of the most violent astronomical phenomena known – a supernova explosion. These cataclysmically violent events take place at the end of the lives of massive stars and can outshine entire galaxies for a short period. While supernovae mark the deaths of massive stars, they are also responsible for the creation of heavy elements that are incorporated into later generations of stars and planets. (Hubble Space Telescope)
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4/5 The Hickson Compact Group 40 (HCG 40) is an unusual close-knit collection of five galaxies. This menagerie includes three spiral-shaped galaxies, an elliptical galaxy, and a lenticular (lens-like) galaxy. Somehow, these different galaxies crossed paths in their evolution to create an exceptionally crowded and eclectic galaxy sampler. Caught in a leisurely gravitational dance, the whole group is so crowded that it could fit within a region of space that is less than twice the diameter of our Milky Way's stellar disk. (Hubble Space Telescope)
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5/5 The Terzan 2 is a globular cluster in the constellation Scorpio. Globular clusters are stable, tightly gravitationally bound clusters of tens of thousands to millions of stars found in a wide variety of galaxies. The intense gravitational attraction between the closely packed stars gives globular clusters a regular, spherical shape. As a result, images of the hearts of globular clusters, such as this observation of Terzan 2, are crowded with a multitude of glittering stars. (Hubble Space Telescope)
NASA Hubble Space Telescope
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures Jupiter's Great Red Spot. (NASA, ESA)

Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, has a great Red Spot on it! And the image of the same has been captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Interestingly, the spot is a vast storm, spinning like a cyclone and is also the largest known storm in the solar system. If you compare the size of it with that of Earth, the storm is some 2 times the size of our planet. Informing about the same, Hubble Telescope tweeted, "Jupiter's Great Red Spot, seen in this #HubbleClassic image from 1999, has captivated astronomers for centuries. The spot is a vast storm, spinning like a cyclone. It's the largest known storm in our solar system and almost twice the size of Earth."

Notably, the Red Spot is still present in Jupiter's atmosphere, more than 300 years later. "When 17th-century astronomers first turned their telescopes to Jupiter, they noted a conspicuous reddish spot on the giant planet. This Great Red Spot is still present in Jupiter's atmosphere, more than 300 years later. It is now known that it is a vast storm, spinning like a cyclone. Unlike a low-pressure hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, however, the Red Spot rotates in a counterclockwise direction in the southern hemisphere, showing that it is a high-pressure system. Winds inside this Jovian storm reach speeds of about 270 mph," Hubble site informed.

The diameter of the Red Spot is 15,400 miles, which is almost twice the size of the entire Earth and one-sixth the diameter of Jupiter itself.

Explaining the reason behind the long lifetime of the Red Spot, the Hubble site said, "The long lifetime of the Red Spot may be due to the fact that Jupiter is mainly a gaseous planet. It possibly has liquid layers, but lacks a solid surface, which would dissipate the storm's energy, much as happens when a hurricane makes landfall on the Earth. However, the Red Spot does change its shape, size, and color, sometimes dramatically."

Notably, astronomers study weather phenomena on other planets in order to gain a greater understanding of our own Ea.rth's climate. Lacking a solid surface, Jupiter provides the astronomers with a laboratory experiment for observing weather phenomena under very different conditions than those prevailing on Earth. This knowledge can also be applied to places in the Earth's atmosphere that are over deep oceans, making them more similar to Jupiter's deep atmosphere.

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First Published Date: 10 Mar, 20:32 IST
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