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#Jupiter in Ultraviolet. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope
es-oh-bfo-em · 5 months
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wonders-of-the-cosmos · 5 months
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals an ultraviolet view of Jupiter.
Image Credit: NASA
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wayti-blog · 5 months
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Hubble provides unique ultraviolet view of Jupiter
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Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Wong (University of California–Berkeley); Processing: Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America)
"This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the "Great Red Spot.""
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Radiation from massive stars shapes planetary systems
How do planetary systems such as the Solar System form? To find out, CNRS scientists taking part in an international research team1 studied a stellar nursery, the Orion Nebula, using the James Webb Space Telescope2. By observing a protoplanetary disc named d203-506, they have discovered the key role played by massive stars in the formation of such nascent planetary systems3.
These stars, which are around 10 times more massive, and more importantly 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun, expose any planets forming in such systems nearby to very intense ultraviolet radiation. Depending on the mass of the star at the centre of the planetary system, this radiation can either help planets to form, or alternatively prevent them from doing so by dispersing their matter. In the Orion Nebula, the scientists found that, due to the intense irradiation from massive stars, a Jupiter-like planet would not be able to form in the planetary system d203-506.
This paper, which will make the front page of the journal Science on 1st March, 2024, shows with unprecedented precision the decisive role played by massive stars in shaping planetary systems, and opens up new perspectives on how such systems form.
Notes :
1 -  The main French laboratories involved in this study are: the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNES/CNRS/Université Toulouse Paul Sabatier), Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (CNRS/Université Paris-Saclay), Laboratoire d'Etudes du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique et Atmosphères (CNRS/Université Cergy Paris/Observatoire de Paris-PSL/Sorbonne Université/), and Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay (CNRS/Université Paris Saclay). The study is part of the international ' PDRs4All  ' project.
2 - The James Webb Infrared Space Telescope can peer through dust clouds, thus revealing with unparallelled clarity distant celestial bodies such as the Orion Nebula, 1400 light-years from Earth.
3 - Systems that are less than a million years old.
IMAGE....Hubble image of the Orion Nebula, and a zoom in on the protoplanetary disc d203-506 taken with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).  Credit © NASA/STScI/Rice Univ./C.O'Dell et al / O. Berné, I. Schrotter, PDRs4All
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entertainmentnerdly · 3 years
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Jupiter in Ultraviolet. Credit: Hubble Space Telescope via /r/space https://ift.tt/2SmXgS1
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therealuniverse · 4 years
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Jupiter’s Aurora The planet Jupiter has the strongest magnetic field of any planet in our solar system. It is more than 10 times as strong as that of the planet Earth, and is thought to be generated by currents in its high pressure core of metallic hydrogen. Like the magnetic field of earth, it captures charged particles out in space particularly from the sun and accelerates them around the planet, eventually leading to electric interactions with the gases at Jupiter’s poles and producing aurorae.
This image of Jupiter’s aurorae was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2016. The planet itself is captured in visible light while the Aurora are captured by Hubble’s Ultraviolet light filter; Jupiter’s aurorae are so powerful that they are best seen at higher energy wavelengths than visible light. Unlike the Earth-Moon system, Jupiter’s Aurorae are complicated by the large Jovian moons. The volcanic moon Io shoots particles out into the environment around Jupiter that are then ionized and accelerated towards the poles; this effect produces a streak around the Aurora that can be seen in this image. Europa similarly produces a small spot due to ionization of water ice at its surface, and Ganymede has a weak magnetic field of its own that disrupts the surrounding environment at Jupiter and again triggers another spot. The farthest moon, Callisto, can also produce a spot, but that has only been observed once. Jupiter’s aurora in this photo is something like 3-4 times the size of the planet Earth. -JBB Image credit: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/24 Reference: https://www.space.com/41084-jupiter-moons-intricate-aurora-footprints.html
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sciencespies · 3 years
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How Far Back In Time Can We See With Our Naked Eye?
https://sciencespies.com/news/how-far-back-in-time-can-we-see-with-our-naked-eye/
How Far Back In Time Can We See With Our Naked Eye?
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Whenever you observe an object, you aren’t viewing it in its present state.
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When one of Jupiter’s moons passes behind our Solar System’s largest planet, it falls into the … [+] planet’s shadow, becoming dark. When sunlight begins striking the moon again, we don’t see it instantly, but many minutes later: the time it takes for light to travel from that moon to our eyes. Here, Io re-emerges from behind Jupiter, the same phenomenon that Ole Rømer used to first measure the speed of light.
Robert J. Modic
Instead, we’re held back while light travels through space.
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As shown here, the International Space Station flies over a spectacular aurora on display in Earth’s … [+] atmosphere. At its cruising altitude of around ~400 kilometers, the light we receive from the ISS here on the surface of the Earth is ~1.4 milliseconds in the past compared to events happening “now” on Earth.
NASA / INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
Visible artificial satellites appear as they were ~1-2 milliseconds ago.
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Whether seen with the naked eye or with modern telescopes, the light from Uranus takes approximately … [+] 159.6 minutes, or 2 hours and ~40 minutes, to reach Earth. Uranus, which has a prominent lunar system and its own rich set of rings, is the most distant naked-eye object in the Solar System.
ESO
The farthest naked eye Solar System object, Uranus, is 2 hours and 40 minutes in the past.
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The two sun-like stars, Alpha Centauri A and B, are located just 4.37 light years away from us and … [+] orbit one another at between the distances of Saturn and Neptune in our own solar system. Even in this Hubble image, however, they are simply oversaturated point sources; no disk can be resolved. Proxima Centauri is approximately 0.2 light years away, only 4.24 light-years from Earth.
ESA/Hubble & NASA
The closest stars, in Alpha Centauri’s system, are ~4.3 light-years away; there, it’s early 2016 on Earth.
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Canopus, normally visible from the Southern Hemisphere, is seen here from the International Space … [+] Station. Bluish-white in color, the second brightest star in the night sky is much farther than either the brightest (Sirius, at 8.6 light-years) or third brightest (Alpha Centauri, at 4.3 light-years) star, located 310 light-years away. It is intrinsically much brighter than either one.
NASA / ISS expedition 6
The second brightest star, Canopus, sees a pre-Industrial Revolution Earth: 310 light-years distant.
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The three bright stars of the Summer Triangle: Vega (at top), Deneb (at left), and Altair (at … [+] right), contain seven fascinating and easily visible deep-sky objects from our perspective. The faint outline of the plane of the Milky Way can be seen passing through this collection of stars that dominates the summer skies. Vega is a mere 26 light-years away; Deneb is about 100 times as distant at 2,615 light-years.
NASA, ESA; Credit: A. Fujii
Deneb, anchoring the Summer Triangle, appears as it did 2,615 years ago; Athenian Democracy is a century away.
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The Carina Nebula, with Eta Carina, the brightest star inside it, on the left. What appears to be a … [+] single star was identified as a binary back in 2005, and it’s led some to theorize that a third companion was responsible for triggering the supernova impostor event that caused a series of brightenings in the first half of the 19th century.
ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R.Gendler, J-E. Ovaldsen, C. Thöne, and C. Feron
Eta Carinae, 7,500 light-years away, witnesses the Black Sea’s flooding.
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The constellation of Cassiopeia is familiar to casual skywatchers as a big “W” in the sky, but in … [+] truth the constellation contains many thousands of stars that are fainter and impossible to resolve without astronomical equipment. The farthest naked-eye star of all, V762 Cassiopeiae, can be found above the first “V” in the “W” shape, as annotated.
A. FUJII; annotations by E. Siegel
The oldest naked-eye starlight arrives from V762 Cassiopeiae, 16,300 years old: when humans first entered North America.
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A map of the nearest globular clusters surrounding the Milky Way’s center. A few of the globular … [+] clusters within our Milky Way, such as Omega Centauri and the great globular cluster in Hercules (Messier 13) are visible to the naked eye, but there is a visible globular cluster that’s located farther away than all of the others.
William E. Harris / McMaster U., and Larry McNish / RASC Calgary
Numerous visible globular star clusters are farther, with Messier 3 the most distant.
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Messier 3, a globular cluster located 33,900 light-years away, as seen through a 24″ telescope. The … [+] stars within this globular cluster are approximately 11.4 billion years old, and it can be seen with the naked eye under ideal viewing conditions.
Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter/University of Arizona
It’s 33,900 light-years away, corresponding to the final demise of Earth’s Neanderthals.
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The location of globular cluster Messier 3, near the Big Dipper (top) and Arcturus (bottom). If you … [+] look at the star to the right of Alkaid, Cor Caroli, Messier 3 is located along the straight line connecting Cor Caroli to Arcturus. Messier 3 is the most distant naked-eye globular at an estimated 33,900 light-years away.
E. Siegel / Stellarium
Galaxies outdistance all other visible objects.
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The largest galaxy in the Local Group, Andromeda, appears small and insignificant next to the Milky … [+] Way, but that’s because of its distance: some 2.5 million light years away. Easily visible under dark skies, it’s one of four galaxies external to our own visible with the naked eye, along with the Magellanic Clouds and Triangulum.
ScienceTV on YouTube / Screenshot
The Triangulum galaxy even bests Andromeda: 2.8 million light-years away, predating Homo Habilis.
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The Triangulum galaxy might not be as massive or impressive as ourselves or Andromeda, but it’s the … [+] farthest object from Earth visible with the naked eye, and the third largest galaxy in our local group. At 2.73 million light-years away, they would not be able to find any evidence for the genus ‘Homo’ on Earth.
Robert Gendler, Subaru Telescope (NAOJ)
Only temporary, transient events are farther.
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This dual image shows the emission of GRB 080319B, imaged by Swift’s X-ray Telescope (L) and, later, … [+] followed-up by the Optical/Ultraviolet Telescope (R). This was the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded at the time, and was so bright that, for about 30 seconds on March 19, 2008, it was visible to the naked human eye.
NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler, et al.
Gamma-ray burst GRB 080319B was visible for ~30 seconds on March 19, 2008.
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The distant galaxy EGC 1305123, seen in optical light (L) and ionized carbon monoxide (R), as imaged … [+] by Hubble. This galaxy is comparable, in many ways, to an early version of the Milky Way, and its light comes to us from about ~8 billion years ago, comparable to the most distant gamma-ray burst visible with the naked eye.
ESA/Hubble & NASA; Tacconi et al. (2010), Nature 463, 781
7.5 billion light-years away, its light predates Earth’s existence by ~3 billion years.
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An illustration of the young solar system Beta Pictoris, somewhat analogous to our own Solar System … [+] during its formation. The Earth and Sun formed roughly 4.5-4.6 billion years ago; an object whose light must travel for 7.5 billion years before reaching our eyes would have no inkling of our planet’s existence for another ~3 billion years.
AVI M. MANDELL, NASA
Mostly Mute Monday tells an astronomical story in images, visuals, and no more than 200 words. Talk less; smile more.
#News
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spaceexp · 5 years
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Hubble Uncovers a ‘Heavy Metal’ Exoplanet Shaped Like a Football
NASA - Hubble Space Telescope patch. Aug. 1, 2019 How can a planet be "hotter than hot?" The answer is when heavy metals are detected escaping from the planet's atmosphere, instead of condensing into clouds. Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveal magnesium and iron gas streaming from the strange world outside our solar system known as WASP-121b. The observations represent the first time that so-called "heavy metals"—elements heavier than hydrogen and helium—have been spotted escaping from a hot Jupiter, a large, gaseous exoplanet very close to its star.
Image above: This artist's illustration shows an alien world that is losing magnesium and iron gas from its atmosphere. The observations represent the first time that so-called "heavy metals"—elements more massive than hydrogen and helium—have been detected escaping from a hot Jupiter, a large gaseous exoplanet orbiting very close to its star.The planet, known as WASP-121b, orbits a star brighter and hotter than the Sun. The planet is so dangerously close to its star that its upper atmosphere reaches a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10 times greater than any known planetary atmosphere. A torrent of ultraviolet light from the host star is heating the planet's upper atmosphere, which is causing the magnesium and iron gas to escape into space. Observations by Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph have detected the spectral signatures of magnesium and iron far away from the planet.The planet's "hugging" distance from the star means that it is on the verge of being ripped apart by the star's gravitational tidal forces. The powerful gravitational forces have altered the planet's shape so that it appears more football shaped.The WASP-121 system is about 900 light-years from Earth. Image Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Olmsted (STScI). Normally, hot Jupiter-sized planets are still cool enough inside to condense heavier elements such as magnesium and iron into clouds. But that's not the case with WASP-121b, which is orbiting so dangerously close to its star that its upper atmosphere reaches a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in WASP-121b's upper atmosphere is about 10 times greater than that of any known planetary atmosphere. The WASP-121 system resides about 900 light-years from Earth. "Heavy metals have been seen in other hot Jupiters before, but only in the lower atmosphere," explained lead researcher David Sing of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. "So you don't know if they are escaping or not. With WASP-121b, we see magnesium and iron gas so far away from the planet that they're not gravitationally bound." Ultraviolet light from the host star, which is brighter and hotter than the Sun, heats the upper atmosphere and helps lead to its escape. In addition, the escaping magnesium and iron gas may contribute to the temperature spike, Sing said. "These metals will make the atmosphere more opaque in the ultraviolet, which could be contributing to the heating of the upper atmosphere," he explained. The sizzling planet is so close to its star that it is on the cusp of being ripped apart by the star's gravity. This hugging distance means that the planet is football shaped due to gravitational tidal forces. "We picked this planet because it is so extreme," Sing said. "We thought we had a chance of seeing heavier elements escaping. It's so hot and so favorable to observe, it's the best shot at finding the presence of heavy metals. We were mainly looking for magnesium, but there have been hints of iron in the atmospheres of other exoplanets. It was a surprise, though, to see it so clearly in the data and at such great altitudes so far away from the planet. The heavy metals are escaping partly because the planet is so big and puffy that its gravity is relatively weak. This is a planet being actively stripped of its atmosphere." The researchers used the observatory's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph to search in ultraviolet light for the spectral signatures of magnesium and iron imprinted on starlight filtering through WASP-121b's atmosphere as the planet passed in front of, or transited, the face of its home star. This exoplanet is also a perfect target for NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to search in infrared light for water and carbon dioxide, which can be detected at longer, redder wavelengths. The combination of Hubble and Webb observations would give astronomers a more complete inventory of the chemical elements that make up the planet's atmosphere. The WASP-121b study is part of the Panchromatic Comparative Exoplanet Treasury (PanCET) survey, a Hubble program to look at 20 exoplanets, ranging in size from super-Earths (several times Earth's mass) to Jupiters (which are over 100 times Earth's mass), in the first large-scale ultraviolet, visible, and infrared comparative study of distant worlds.
Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Animation Credits: NASA/ESA
The observations of WASP-121b add to the developing story of how planets lose their primordial atmospheres. When planets form, they gather an atmosphere containing gas from the disk in which the planet and star formed. These atmospheres consist mostly of the primordial, lighter-weight gases hydrogen and helium, the most plentiful elements in the universe. This atmosphere dissipates as a planet moves closer to its star. "The hot Jupiters are mostly made of hydrogen, and Hubble is very sensitive to hydrogen, so we know these planets can lose the gas relatively easily," Sing said. "But in the case of WASP-121b, the hydrogen and helium gas is outflowing, almost like a river, and is dragging these metals with them. It's a very efficient mechanism for mass loss." The results will appear online today in The Astronomical Journal: https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/1538-3881 The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C. For more information about Hubble, visit: http://hubblesite.org/ http://www.nasa.gov/hubble http://www.spacetelescope.org/ Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Rob Garner/GSFC/Claire Andreoli/STSI/Donna Weaver/Ray Villard/JHU/David Sing. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article
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the-telescope-times · 6 years
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Hubble detects helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet for the first time
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The exoplanet WASP-107b is a gas giant, orbiting a highly active K-type main sequence star. The star is about 200 light-years from Earth. Using spectroscopy, scientists were able to find helium in the escaping atmosphere of the planet — the first detection of this element in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, M. Kornmesser
   Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b. This is the first time this element has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside the Solar System. The discovery demonstrates the ability to use infrared spectra to study exoplanet extended atmospheres.
The international team of astronomers, led by Jessica Spake, a PhD student at the University of Exeter in the UK, used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 to discover helium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b This is the first detection of its kind.
Spake explains the importance of the discovery: “Helium is the second-most common element in the Universe after hydrogen. It is also one of the main constituents of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in our Solar System. However, up until now helium had not been detected on exoplanets - despite searches for it.”
The team made the detection by analysing the infrared spectrum of the atmosphere of WASP-107b [1]. Previous detections of extended exoplanet atmospheres have been made by studying the spectrum at ultraviolet and optical wavelengths; this detection therefore demonstrates that exoplanet atmospheres can also be studied at longer wavelengths.
Read more ~ https://www.spacetelescope.org
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apod · 6 years
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2018 February 21
Jupiter in Infrared from Hubble Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Data: Michael Wong (UC Berkeley) et al.; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt
Explanation: Jupiter looks a bit different in infrared light. To better understand Jupiter's cloud motions and to help NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft understand the Hubble Space Telescope is being directed to regularly image the entire Jovian giant. The colors of Jupiter being monitored go beyond the normal human visual range to include both ultraviolet and infrared light. Featured here in 2016, three bands of near-infrared light have been digitally reassigned into a mapped color image. Jupiter appears different in infrared partly because the amount of sunlight reflected back is distinct, giving differing cloud heights and latitudes discrepant brightnesess. Nevertheless, many familiar features on Jupiter remain, including the light zones and dark belts that circle the planet near the equator, the Great Red Spot on the lower left, and the string-of-pearls storm systems south of the Great Red Spot. The poles glow because high altitute haze there is energized by charged particles from Jupiter's magnetosphere. Juno has now completed 10 of 12 planned science orbits of Jupiter and continues to record data that are helping humanity to understand not only Jupiter's weather but what lies beneath Jupiter's thick clouds.
∞ Source: apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180221.html
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tatmanblue · 3 years
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Hubble finds first evidence of water vapour at Jupiter’s moon Ganymede
flickr
Hubble finds first evidence of water vapour at Jupiter’s moon Ganymede by European Space Agency Via Flickr: Astronomers have used archival datasets from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to reveal the first evidence for water vapour in the atmosphere of Jupiter’s moon Ganymede, the result of the thermal escape of water vapour from the moon’s icy surface. Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is the largest moon — and the ninth-largest object — in the Solar System. It may hold more water than all of Earth's oceans, but temperatures there are so cold that water on the surface freezes and the ocean lies roughly 160 kilometres below the crust. Nevertheless, where there is water there could be life as we know it. Identifying liquid water on other worlds is crucial in the search for habitable planets beyond Earth. And now, for the first time, evidence has been found for a sublimated water atmosphere on the icy moon Ganymede. In 1998, Hubble’s Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) took the first ultraviolet (UV) pictures of Ganymede, which revealed a particular pattern in the observed emissions from the moon’s atmosphere. The moon displays auroral bands that are somewhat similar to the auroral ovals observed on Earth and other planets with magnetic fields. These images were therefore illustrative evidence that Ganymede has a permanent magnetic field. The similarities between the two ultraviolet observations were explained by the presence of molecular oxygen, O2. The differences were explained at the time by the presence of atomic oxygen, O, which produces a signal that affects one UV colour more than the other. As part of a large observing programme to support NASA’s Juno mission in 2018, Lorenz Roth, of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, led a team that set out to capture UV spectra of Ganymede with Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) instrument to measure the amount of atomic oxygen. They carried out a combined analysis of new spectra taken in 2018 with the COS and archival images from the STIS instrument from 1998 and 2010. To their surprise, and in contrast to the original interpretations of the data from 1998, they discovered there was hardly any atomic oxygen in Ganymede's atmosphere. This means there must be another explanation for the apparent differences between the UV aurora images. The explanation was then uncovered by Roth and his team in the relative distribution of the aurorae in the two images. Ganymede's surface temperature varies strongly throughout the day, and around noon near the equator it may become sufficiently warm that the icy surface releases some small amounts of water molecules. In fact, the perceived differences between the UV images are directly correlated with where water would be expected in the moon’s atmosphere. “Initially only the O2 had been observed,” explained Roth. “This is produced when charged particles erode the ice surface. The water vapour that we have now measured originates from ice sublimation caused by the thermal escape of H2O vapour from warm icy regions.” This finding adds anticipation to ESA’s upcoming JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (Juice) mission — the first large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 programme. Planned for launch in 2022 and arrival at Jupiter in 2029, it will spend at least three years making detailed observations of Jupiter and three of its largest moons, with particular emphasis on Ganymede as a planetary body and potential habitable world. Ganymede was identified for detailed investigation because it provides a natural laboratory for the analysis of the nature, evolution and potential habitability of icy worlds in general and the role it plays within the system of Galilean satellites, and its unique magnetic and plasma interactions with Jupiter and its environment (known as the Jovian system). “Our results can provide the Juice instrument teams with valuable information that may be used to refine their observation plans to optimise the use of the spacecraft,” added Roth. Understanding the Jovian system and unravelling its history, from its origin to the possible emergence of habitable environments, will provide us with a better understanding of how gas giant planets and their satellites form and evolve. In addition, new insights will hopefully be found into the potential for the emergence of life in Jupiter-like exoplanetary systems. Credits: ESA/Hubble, NASA, J. Spencer; CC BY 4.0
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following-stark · 3 years
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#JUPITER One thousand times more powerful than Earth’s northern lights, Jupiter’s aurora is seen here in ultraviolet light by @nasahubble telescope during a transit of my favorite Jovian moon, Europa. This time-lapse video of the vivid auroras in #Jupiter's atmosphere was created using far-ultraviolet-light observations made on May 19, 2016, with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard @NASA 's #Hubble Space Telescope. Credits: NASA | ESA, and J. Nichols (University of Leicester) . . . . Follow ↪@followingstark . . . . . . . . . #followingstark #astronomylover #amateurastronomy #astronomycamp #astronomyy #astronomy #astronomypicturesdaily #astronomy_eye #backyardastronomy #infoastronomy #astronomynight #astronomyfacts #astronomyday #astronomydepartment #astronomydomine #astronomynerd #astronomyart #astronomyposts #astronomygeek #astronomyclub #astronomypictureoftheday #astronomyclass #astronomyfix #astronomylovers #astronomyphotos #radioastronomy #astronomyphotography https://www.instagram.com/p/CFuZLgFDAwa/?igshid=1w7imfj1h6glq
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By Jove! Jupiter Shows Its Stripes and Colors Detailed new images of Jupiter captured in different colors of light reveal a multitude of atmospheric features Stunning new images of Jupiter from Gemini North and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcase the planet at infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths of light. These views reveal details in atmospheric features such as the Great Red Spot, superstorms, and gargantuan cyclones stretching across the planet’s disk. Three interactive images allow you to compare observations of Jupiter at these different wavelengths and explore the gas giant’s clouds yourself! Three striking new images of Jupiter show the stately gas giant at three different types of light — infrared, visible, and ultraviolet. The visible and ultraviolet views were captured by the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, while the infrared image comes from the Near-InfraRed Imager (NIRI) instrument at Gemini North in Hawaiʻi, the northern member of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. All of the observations were taken simultaneously (at 15:41 Universal Time) on 11 January 2017. These three portraits highlight the key advantage of multiwavelength astronomy: viewing planets and other astronomical objects at different wavelengths of light allows scientists to glean otherwise unavailable insights. In the case of Jupiter, the planet has a vastly different appearance in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet observations. The planet’s Great Red Spot — the famous persistent storm system large enough to swallow the Earth whole — is a prominent feature of the visible and ultraviolet images, but it is almost invisible at infrared wavelengths. Jupiter’s counter-rotating bands of clouds, on the contrary, are clearly visible in all three views. Observing the Great Red Spot at multiple wavelengths yields other surprises — the dark region in the infrared image is larger than the corresponding red oval in the visible image. This discrepancy arises because different structures are revealed by different wavelengths; the infrared observations show areas covered with thick clouds, while the visible and ultraviolet observations show the locations of chromophores — the particles that give the Great Red Spot its distinctive hue by absorbing blue and ultraviolet light. The Great Red Spot isn’t the only storm system visible in these images. The region sometimes nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears in both the visible and ultraviolet observations [1]. This storm — to the bottom right of its larger counterpart — formed from the merger of three similar-sized storms in 2000 [2]. In the visible-wavelength image, it has a clearly defined red outer rim with a white center. In the infrared, however, Red Spot Jr. is invisible, lost in the larger band of cooler clouds, which appear dark in the infrared view. Like the Great Red Spot, Red Spot Jr. is colored by chromophores that absorb solar radiation at both ultraviolet and blue wavelengths, giving it a red color in visible observations and a dark appearance at ultraviolet wavelengths. Just above Red Spot Jr. in the visible observations, a Jovian superstorm appears as a diagonal white streak extending toward the right side of Jupiter’s disk. One atmospheric phenomenon that does feature prominently at infrared wavelengths is a bright streak in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter. This feature — a cyclonic vortex or perhaps a series of vortices — extends 72,000 kilometers (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. At visible wavelengths the cyclone appears dark brown, leading to these types of features being called ‘brown barges’ in images from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft. At ultraviolet wavelengths, however, the feature is barely visible underneath a layer of stratospheric haze, which becomes increasingly dark toward the north pole. Similarly, lined up below the brown barge, four large ‘hot spots’ appear bright in the infrared image but dark in both the visible and ultraviolet views. Astronomers discovered such features when they observed Jupiter in infrared wavelengths for the first time in the 1960s. As well as providing a beautiful scenic tour of Jupiter, these observations provide insights about the planet’s atmosphere, with each wavelength probing different layers of cloud and haze particles. A team of astronomers used the telescope data to analyze the cloud structure within areas of Jupiter where NASA’s Juno spacecraft detected radio signals coming from lightning activity. The scientific story behind these striking images is told in full in a “The Gemini North observations were made possible by the telescope’s location within the Maunakea Science Reserve, adjacent to the summit of Maunakea,” acknowledges the observation team’s leader, Mike Wong of the University of California, Berkeley. “We are grateful for the privilege of observing Ka‘āwela (Jupiter) from a place that is unique in both its astronomical quality and its cultural significance.” More information on the infrared observations from Gemini is provided in the NOIRLab press release Gemini Gets Lucky and Takes a Deep Dive Into Jupiter’s Clouds. Notes [1] While it appears red in Hubble’s visible-light image of Jupiter taken in January 2017, Red Spot Jr. does not always appear red. It was white when it first formed but turned red several years later. It has changed color since then and once again appears white. [2] The three storms that merged to form Red Spot Jr. in 2000 were similar in size to each other and similar in size to Red Spot Jr. Interestingly, Red Spot Jr. did not become much larger than any of the three individual storms after they merged. TOP IMAGE....This infrared view of Jupiter was created from data captured on 11 January 2017 with the Near-InfraRed Imager (NIRI) instrument at Gemini North in Hawaiʻi, the northern member of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. It is actually a mosaic of individual frames that were combined to produce a global portrait of the planet. In the image warmer areas appear bright, including four large hot spots that appear in a row just north of the equator. South of the equator, the oval-shaped and cloud-covered Great Red Spot appears dark. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani CENTRE IMAGE....This visible-light image of Jupiter was created from data captured on 11 January 2017 using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. Near the top, a long brown feature called a ‘brown barge’ extends 72,000 kilometers (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. The Great Red Spot stands out prominently in the lower left, while the smaller feature nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears to its lower right. Credit: NASA/ESA/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani LOWER IMAGE....This ultraviolet image of Jupiter was created from data captured on 11 January 2017 using the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr. (also known as Oval BA) absorb ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and therefore appear dark in this view. Credit: NASA/ESA/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al. Acknowledgments: M. Zamani BOTTOM IMAGE....Labels added to this visible-light Hubble Space Telescope image of Jupiter point out several atmospheric features on the planet, including a ‘brown barge’, four hot spots (which appear bright in the infrared image from Gemini North), a superstorm, the Great Red Spot, and Red Spot Jr. (also known as Oval BA). Credit: NASA/ESA/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al.
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cosmicvastness · 7 years
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Alien aurorae on Uranus
Ever since Voyager 2 beamed home spectacular images of the planets in the 1980s, planet-lovers have been hooked on extra-terrestrial aurorae. Aurorae are caused by streams of charged particles like electrons, that come from various origins such as solar winds, the planetary ionosphere, and moon volcanism. They become caught in powerful magnetic fields and are channelled into the upper atmosphere, where their interactions with gas particles, such as oxygen or nitrogen, set off spectacular bursts of light. The alien aurorae on Jupiter and Saturn are well-studied, but not much is known about the aurorae of the giant ice planet Uranus. In 2011, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope became the first Earth-based telescope to snap an image of the aurorae on Uranus. In 2012 and 2014 a team led by an astronomer from Paris Observatory took a second look at the aurorae using the ultraviolet capabilities of the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) installed on Hubble. They tracked the interplanetary shocks caused by two powerful bursts of solar wind travelling from the Sun to Uranus, then used Hubble to capture their effect on Uranus’ aurorae — and found themselves observing the most intense aurorae ever seen on the planet. By watching the aurorae over time, they collected the first direct evidence that these powerful shimmering regions rotate with the planet. They also re-discovered Uranus’ long-lost magnetic poles, which were lost shortly after their discovery by Voyager 2 in 1986 due to uncertainties in measurements and the featureless planet surface. This is a composite image of Uranus by Voyager 2 and two different observations made by Hubble — one for the ring and one for the aurorae.
Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy / Observatoire de Paris
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therealuniverse · 4 years
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Why did Betelgeuse Dim? Earlier this year, the star Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion suddenly dimmed – going from one of the 5 brightest stars in the sky to about the 20th brightest star, only to return to its original brightness within a few weeks. Newly released data, including this image from the Hubble Space Telescope, suggest that the dimming was caused by a massive cloud of dust released from the star.
Betelgeuse is a red giant, nearing the end of its lifespan. That makes it a very large star – comparable in diameter to the orbit of Jupiter. Because it’s close to Earth, that makes it one of the only stars in the universe where we can fully image its surface. In 2019, the bright spot you see in this image appeared – making the star slightly brighter overall. At the same time, the spectrum of the star changed as measured by Hubble in the Ultraviolet range, indicating more Magnesium in the star’s outer layers. Magnesium is a major solid component generated by stellar processes and if that material left the star, it would quickly cool down into a solid, dust. Late last year, that’s exactly what happened. The Magnesium measured in the star dropped at the same time that the star dimmed and the bright spot on the surface faded away. The bright spot on the surface therefore represented a plume or a pulse of hot material being brought up to the edge of the star. Once it was released out into space, it blocked some of our view of the star’s light, until it dissipated and blew away. -JBB Image credit: https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic2014/?lang
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sciencespies · 3 years
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Incredible images reveal a single moment on Jupiter in different wavelengths of light
https://sciencespies.com/space/incredible-images-reveal-a-single-moment-on-jupiter-in-different-wavelengths-of-light/
Incredible images reveal a single moment on Jupiter in different wavelengths of light
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Jupiter: king of the planets, protector of the inner Solar System. We all know what the gas giant looks like, with its vanilla and butterscotch ice-cream bands of counter-rotating cloud, and the iconic red storm raging in the southern hemisphere.
But that’s only how Jupiter looks in optical wavelengths, though. When imaged in wavelengths beyond the limits of human vision, Jupiter appears differently. In infrared, thermal emission glows brightly, with cooler regions duller red (a bit like lasagna); in ultraviolet, soft, cotton-candy pastels show us different altitudes.
These different wavelengths, showing such very different faces of Jupiter, are the subject of a new image release from the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), showcasing how multi-wavelength astronomy can provide us with a holistic dataset revealing complexities that can’t be seen in one wavelength alone.
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Jupiter in infrared. (International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA, M.H. Wong (UC Berkeley) et al./M. Zamani)
All three observations were taken at the same time, at 15:41 UT on 11 January 2017. The Hubble Space Telescope handled the optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, using its Wide Field Camera 3. The ultraviolet image was taken by the Gemini North telescope’s Near-Infrared Imager.
The result is a rare snapshot of Jupiter at a single point in time across a wide swathe of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the differences between the images are fascinating.
Visible light, for instance, allows us to see details on the surface of Jupiter’s atmosphere, but it’s impossible to gauge how thick the cloud layers are. When we view the planet in infrared, vivid streaks of gold indicate thinner regions, allowing thermal energy from below the atmosphere to shine through.
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(NASA/ESA/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al./M. Zamani)
The Great Red Spot, so vivid in visible light and ultraviolet, practically disappears in infrared, only discernible by its outline, and a thin crack in the cyclone’s otherwise thick cloud. Its smaller storm buddy, ‘Red Spot Jr.’ (AKA Oval BA), disappears entirely.
Ultraviolet imagery of Jupiter helps scientists track the altitude and distribution of particles in the atmosphere. Higher layers, for example, appear redder due to the absorption of ultraviolet light at high altitude, whereas bluer regions appear so because of the reflection of ultraviolet light at lower altitudes.
These images, when combined with visible light, show where Jupiter’s chromophores are concentrated, too. Those are the particles that produce the red color seen in the Great Red Spot and Red Spot Jr.
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Jupiter in ultraviolet. (NASA/ESA/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al./M. Zamani)
Scientists have already been using images such as these to learn more about Jupiter. In 2019, a team of scientists compared Hubble observations with radio observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to find out what’s happening inside Jupiter’s storms.
Gemini, Hubble, and Juno observations appeared together in a study last year, finally revealing that the darker streak in the Great Red Spot was in fact a streak of thinner cloud, as well as the structure of the clouds where lightning strikes – the latter detected as radio signals by Juno. This research is also the subject of a new NOIRLab blog post.
The three instruments are going to continue to be working together for some time. In January of this year, NASA announced that the Juno mission is to be extended – instead of its previously scheduled conclusion in July of this year, it will remain in operation until at least September 2025, if the spacecraft doesn’t break down before then.
Since arriving in Jovian orbit in 2016, Juno has already given us so much new information on Jupiter that we’re going to be processing and learning from it for years to come. We can’t wait to see what else multi-wavelength observations can teach us about this incredible planet.
Especially if it’s going to keep looking like such a snack.
Image credit at top of story: (International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/NASA/ESA, M.H. Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al./M. Zamani)
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