This animation shows two small extracts of full-disc maps of Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, made during the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) programme. The second frame was observed the same day, but from 15:00 UT to 23:40 UT.
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Using these images from the Hubble Space Telescope, those scientists have created new maps of Jupiter. The images also reveal a rare wave structure in the planet’s atmosphere that has not been seen for decades. On Tuesday, NASA scientists released new global maps of Jupiter as the first in a series of annual cartographical portraits of the other planets orbiting the Sunday.
The images were taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 3, which was installed on Hubble during the telescope’s final servicing mission.
NASA updates its maps of Jupiter each year, but this year’s project proved to be particularly fascinating.
As the spot has shrunk, it’s color has also become more anemic, losing a few of its redness.
Close-ups of the Great Red Spot reveals a unique filamentary feature not previously seen. According to NASA, the long axis of the spot is now 150 miles (240 kilometers) shorter now than it was in 2014.
So, what are these new findings captured by The Hubble? An unusual wispy filament is seen, spanning nearly the entire width of the vortex. This filamentary streamer is being tossed around by winds reaching upwards of 330 miles per hour (150 meters/second).
There is another feature of interest in this new view of our giant neighbour.
In Jupiter’s North Equatorial Belt, the researchers found an elusive wave that had been spotted on the planet only once before, decades earlier, by Voyager 2.
“Until now, we thought the wave seen by Voyager 2 might have been a fluke”, Glenn Orton of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said in a statement. As these Jovian waves are located in a region of cyclones and anticylones, it seems possible that they are baroclinic waves that are propagating upward into the upper cloud deck. The wave is similar to what happens on Earth when cyclones are forming.
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Scientists have produced two new maps of Jupiter with the first set of data from the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program.
