A cyclone on Mars
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Caption:
In April 1999 Hubble spotted a cyclonic cloud formation swirling
near the Martian North Pole. This was the height of summer in
the Northern Hemisphere of Mars, so the north polar cap is relatively
tiny. Much of the carbon-dioxide ice that covers the poles during
a Martian winter returns temporarily to the atmosphere during
summer, revealing deeper layers of permanent water ice.
Hubble Space Telescope • Wide Field Planetary Camera
2
Photo Credit: NASA, S. Lee (University of Colorado), J. Bell
(Cornell University), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute)
STScI-1999-27
Saturn Ring Crossing
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Caption:
Looming like a giant flying saucer in our outer solar system,
Saturn puts on a show as the planet and its magnificent ring
system nod majestically over the course of its 29-year journey
around the Sun. In these Hubble images, captured from 1996 to
2000, Saturn’s rings open up from just past edge-on to
nearly fully open as the planet moves from autumn toward winter
in its Northern Hemisphere.
Saturn’s equator is tilted relative to its orbit by 27
degrees, which is similar to Earth’s 23-degree tilt. As
Saturn moves along its orbit, first one hemisphere, then the
other is tilted toward the Sun. This causes seasons on Saturn.
The first image in this sequence, on the lower left, was taken
soon after autumn began in Saturn’s Northern Hemisphere
(the start of spring in its Southern Hemisphere). By the final
image, on the upper right, the tilt is nearing its extreme,
the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and summer in
the South.
Saturn’s rings are only about 30 feet thick. They are
made of dusty water ice in boulder-sized and smaller chunks
that gently collide with each other as they orbit around Saturn.
Saturn’s gravitational field keeps them spread out, preventing
them from combining to form a moon. The gaseous planet is about
75,000 miles across and is flattened at the poles because of
its very rapid rotation. A day is only 10 hours long on Saturn.
Strong winds account for the horizontal atmospheric bands.
Hubble Space Telescope • Wide Field Planetary Camera
2
Photo Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
STScI-2001-15
Saturn
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Caption:
Bands of subtle color distinguish differences in the clouds
over Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system.
Saturn’s high-altitude clouds are made of colorless ammonia
ice. Above these clouds is a layer of haze or smog, produced
when ultraviolet light from the Sun shines on methane gas. The
smog contributes to the planet’s subtle color variations.
One of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus, is seen casting a shadow
on the giant planet as it passes just above the ring system.
The planet’s spectacular ring system consists mostly of
chunks of water ice. Although appearing as if composed of only
a few rings, the ring system actually has tens of thousands
of thin “ringlets.” Hubble’s view shows the
two classic divisions in the ring system. The narrow Encke Gap
is nearest to the disk’s outer edge; the Cassini division
is the wide gap near the center.
Hubble Space Telescope • Wide Field Planetary Camera
2
Photo Credit: NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)
STScI-1998-28
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
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Caption:
When 19th century astronomers turned their telescopes to Jupiter,
they noted a reddish spot on the giant planet. The Great Red
Spot is still present in Jupiter’s atmosphere some 150
years later. It is a vast storm, spinning like a cyclone. Unlike
a low-pressure hurricane in the Caribbean Sea, however, the
Red Spot rotates in a counterclockwise direction in the Southern
Hemisphere, showing that it is a high-pressure system. Winds
inside this Jovian storm reach speeds of about 270 miles per
hour. The Great Red Spot is the largest known storm in the solar
system, almost twice the size of the entire Earth.
Hubble Space Telescope • Wide Field Planetary Camera
1 and 2
Photo Credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA),
and Amy Simon (Cornell University)
STScI-1999-29
Heart of the Great Orion Nebula
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Caption:
Hubble reveals a spectacular color panorama of the center of
the Orion nebula, a star-forming region located 1,500 light-years
away. The mosaic was assembled from 15 separate Hubble views
of the vast nebula, resolving details of star birth as small
as 4 billion miles across – roughly half the diameter
of our solar system. Scattered among the 500 stars in this sweeping
photo mosaic are several disks of dust encircling stars. One
such disk – resembling an interstellar Frisbee –
is tilted edge-on, hiding the young star at its center. In addition,
the survey yields 153 disks that are glowing due to a torrent
of ultraviolet radiation from the nebula’s central stars.
Hubble Space Telescope • Wide
Field Planetary Camera 2
Photo Credit: NASA, C.R. O’Dell
and S.K. Wong (Rice University)
STScI-1995-45
