Hubble’s Red-White-and-Blue View Presents Jupiter in Different Colors

An image of Jupiter taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in ultraviolet/visible/near-infrared light on August 25, 2020 is giving researchers an entirely new view of the giant planet and offers insights into the altitude and distribution of the planet's haze and particles. This complements Hubble’s visible-light pictures that show the ever-changing cloud patterns.

In this photo, the parts of Jupiter’s atmosphere that are at higher altitude, especially over the poles, look red from atmospheric particles absorbing ultraviolet light. Conversely, the blue-hued areas represent the ultraviolet light being reflected off the planet.

A new storm at upper left, which erupted on August 18, 2020, is grabbing the attention of scientists in this image. The “clumps” trailing the white plume appear to be absorbing ultraviolet light, similar to the center of the Great Red Spot, and Red Spot Jr. directly below it. This provides researchers with more evidence that this storm may last longer on Jupiter than most storms.

About the colours

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Left image- Blue: F395N Green: F502N Red: F631N Right image- Blue: 275W Green: 547M Red: FQ889N

About the data

The HST observations include those from the Program 15929 (A. Simon).