NASA's scientists have produced new maps of Jupiter from images collected by the Hubble Space Telescope. Newly composed maps are the first in a series of yearly images of the Solar System's outer planets, designed to keep track of how these giant worlds change over time.
Yearly observations of the giant outer planets of the Solar System are designed to capture a broad range of changing features, such as winds, clouds, storms and atmospheric chemistry. The collections will hopefully help current and future scientists to see how the planet's broad range of features evolve with time.
So far, the images of Jupiter collected by the Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a rare wave located north of the planet's equator and a unique filamentary feature in the core of the Great Red Spot.
“Every time we look at Jupiter, we get tantalizing hints that something really exciting is going on,” said Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “This time is no exception.”
