Hubble image archive
Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot (8-Panel)
Caption Using Hubble Space Telescope data spanning approximately 90 days (between December 2023 and March 2024) when the giant planet Jupiter ranged from 391 million to 512 million miles from the Sun, astronomers measured the Great Red Spot's size, shape, brightness, color, and v...
- Date
- Oct 9, 2024
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2024-011-01j944x1eftsjd92z5vnkf9ned
Caption
Using Hubble Space Telescope data spanning approximately 90 days (between December 2023 and March 2024) when the giant planet Jupiter ranged from 391 million to 512 million miles from the Sun, astronomers measured the Great Red Spot's size, shape, brightness, color, and vorticity over one full oscillation cycle. The data reveal that the Great Red Spot is not as stable as it might look. It was observed going through an oscillation in its elliptical shape, jiggling like a bowl of gelatin. The cause of the 90-day oscillation is unknown.
Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Jupiter |
| Object Description | Planet |
| Distance | On December 10th 2023 Jupiter was 4.21 AU from Earth (about 391 million miles or 630 million km); On March 8th 2024 Jupiter was 5.52 AU from Earth (about 512 million miles or 825 million km). |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The HST observations include those from programs and (A. Simon). Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | December 10 and 28, 2023; January 6, 12, 31, February 12, 24, and March 8, 2024 |
| Filters | F395, F502N, F631N |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample medium wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F395N, Green: F502N, Red: F631N |
| About The Image | |
| Compass and Scale Image | An astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made. |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov