NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope snaps photos of changing weather on Uranus, Jupiter

Hubble, NASA's space telescope, has been tracking the development and history of various galaxies, black holes, dark matter, and more since its deployment in 1990. The Hubble Telescope has also been monitoring the interplanetary weather of the gaseous planets beyond our solar system. Today, Hubble has captured an incredible discovery about Jupiter and Uranus.

The telescope's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) Program has been providing us with interesting, ever-evolving pictures of the large planets since its inception in 2014. Hubble has shown that the northern low latitudes of Jupiter experience more severe storms than the rest of the planet, with a unique pattern of alternating storms creating a "vortex street" in astronomical parlance.

Since 2014, when the telescope's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) Program began, it has given us intriguing, ever-changing images of the huge planets and their atmospheres. Jupiter's weather has been shown to be particularly tumultuous by the Hubble programme, with the planet showing a peculiar pattern of alternating storms that form a "vortex street" in astronomical parlance at low northern latitudes.

According to NASA, these storms may occasionally merge into a single, much bigger one that might be on par with Jupiter's Great Red Spot in terms of intensity. On January 6, 2023, an image was taken of Jupiter's orange moon lo gleaming through the planet's varied clouds. Scientists and astronomers explain that the differing temperatures at which sulphur is present provide a wide spectrum of colours on lo's surface.

Meanwhile, the Hubble Space Telescope has picked up on shifts in Uranus's climate. Uranus has a peculiar "horizontal" orientation, with its rotation axis inclined just eight degrees with respect to the plane of its orbit. One popular theory postulates that the planet formerly possessed a huge moon that triggered gravitational instability and led to a catastrophic collision.

Also, READ: Geomagnetic storm alert! Massive, unexpected ‘G4’ storm strikes Earth, check its impact

Hubble has monitored the expansion and brightening of the polar cap at the north pole, and found that it occurs every year. In order to understand the role that elements like air circulation, particle characteristics, and chemical processes play in the polar cap's seasonal changes, astronomers are now engaged in the process of detangling these aspects. The most recent snapshot taken by Hubble of Uranus shows that its northern pole seems to be pointing directly towards the Sun.