The Hubble Space Telescope has spent more than 30 years providing some of the most astonishing images of the known universe, but now scientists are looking at planets outside our solar system for the first time ever. This has only happened in the last 10 years.
For the past decade, NASA’s Outer Planet Atmospheric Legacy Program (OPAL) has been acquiring detailed images of long-term changes in the skies of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, the four closest giants to Earth. Each of these giants has a unique set. Influence of atmospheric variables. OPAL data has enabled astronomers to observe the weather patterns and seasons of these exoplanets and better understand their dynamics and changes over time.
Hubble can observe wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared light and provides high-resolution images of the gas giant periodically once a year in its closest orbit to Earth. Now, after 10 years of operation, NASA’s Hubble OPAL team plans to present a summary of the program’s 10 years of discoveries at an international conference. American Geophysical Union December Meeting in Washington, DC
“OPAL has been in operation for 10 years and will continue to do so, so its database of planetary observations continues to grow. Its long life not only allows for serendipitous discoveries, but also allows planets to travel around the Sun in their orbits. The scientific value of these data is highlighted by more than 60 publications to date, including OPAL data, according to NASA Goddard Space. said Amy Simon of the flight center. statement.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. Gases in the planet’s atmosphere swirl from the tops of the clouds all the way to the core, tens of thousands of miles below. In addition to its huge size, Jupiter is also known for its Great Red Spot. The unmistakable red vortex swirling around the gas giant’s face is the largest storm in the solar system. A fierce typhoon almost three times the size of Earth.
Jupiter’s orbit around the sun takes 12 years, and OPAL was able to observe nearly one year’s worth of Jupiter’s seasons. During that time, significant changes were observed in the size and shape of the Great Red Spot, as well as other atmospheric phenomena in the belt surrounding the gas giant. Jupiter’s seasonal changes are minimal because its axial tilt is only 3 degrees, but its atmosphere only fluctuates by about 5 percent throughout its orbit, NASA said. (Earth, on the other hand, has an axial tilt of about 23.5 degrees, which creates the different seasons our planet experiences.)
Saturn
Saturn takes more than twice as long to orbit the Sun, with an orbital period lasting 29 years. The ringed giant is tilted at a much steeper 26.7 degrees compared to Jupiter, resulting in much greater seasonal fluctuations. Through 10 years of observations, OPAL has tracked changes in the color of Saturn’s atmosphere and the depth of its clouds as the planet’s seasons change.
Hubble was also able to observe spokes of Saturn’s elusive dark rings. First discovered by NASA’s Voyager mission in the 1980s, these dark rings last only two to three revolutions around Saturn. Thanks to Hubble, astronomers now know that the rings are a seasonal phenomenon.
Uranus
Uranus is tilted almost completely sideways, and its rotation is approximately in the same plane as the planet’s orbit around the sun, which lasts an astonishing 84 years.
For the past decade, OPAL has been observing Uranus’s northern hemisphere, which faces the interior of the solar system and slowly tilts toward the sun throughout Hubble’s time in space. As Uranus slowly revolves around the sun, its polar cap grows brighter as the hemisphere approaches the summer solstice in 2028.
Neptune
A giant black speck of storm the size of Earth’s Atlantic Ocean was discovered in Neptune’s atmosphere in 2018, and Hubble tracked it toward Neptune’s equator until it ended.
The other was observed in 2021 through equatorial dissipation similar to its formation. Using Hubble’s OPAL data, scientists show that the behavior of Neptune’s clouds is somehow related to the 11-year solar cycle and is responsible for recent low-latitude auroras on Earth. I was able to judge that.
