Opposition<\/a> is one of the best times to observe any planet, and means Jupiter is wonderfully bright to the naked eye this week.<\/p> Find out more about this in our guide on how to observe Jupiter through a telescope<\/a>.<\/p> This Hubble image is presented in false colour because the human eye can’t observe ultraviolet light.<\/p> But that’s why astronomers use the electromagnetic spectrum<\/a> to observe the Universe: it gives them the chance to see features that would normally be beyond our vision.<\/p> The first thing we probably notice about this Hubble ultraviolet image of Jupiter is how the Great Red Spot appears blue.<\/p> The Great Red Spot<\/a> is a huge cyclone in Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere that appears red to the human eye.<\/p> But in ultraviolet it appears darker because, NASA says, \u201chigh altitude haze particles absorb light at these wavelengths.”<\/p> And this is why the regions at Jupiter’s poles appear dark and muddy in this ultraviolet image.<\/p> These areas are absorbing less of the light because of differences in particle size, composition or altitude.<\/p> Jupiter is known as a gas giant because the planet is a stormy, turbulent world whose surface isn’t solid and rocky like Earth or Mars.<\/p> One of the key objectives in studying Jupiter with missions like NASA’s Juno probe<\/a> or the Hubble Space Telescope<\/a> is to learn more about what lurks beneath the clouds.<\/p> And this ultraviolet image of Jupiter is part of a Hubble project to analyse Jupiter’s superstorm system.<\/p> The astronomers behind the image intend to map deep water clouds using Hubble observations to define 3D cloud structures in the gas giant’s atmosphere.<\/p>What Hubble\u2019s ultraviolet Jupiter image shows<\/strong><\/h2>
Studying Jupiter’s clouds<\/strong><\/h2>
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