NASA Releases Stunning New Portrait Of Jupiter

As the gas giant Jupiter came into view at its closest position to Earth all year, a team led by Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, used the Hubble telescope to record a detailed portrait of the planet. In an image released Thursday by the administration, fine details of the Jupiter's atmosphere are visible, including its famous red spot.

"With its immense and powerful storms and hundreds of smaller vortices, the atmosphere of Jupiter is divided into several distinct, colorful bands, parallel to the equator," said a statement from NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center. "These bands, with alternating wind motions, are created by differences in the thickness and height of the ammonia ice clouds; the lighter bands rise higher and have thicker clouds than the darker bands. The bands are separated by winds that can reach speeds of up to 400 miles (644 kilometers) per hour."

The spectacular view was possible because the Earth and Jupiter were in "opposition," which means Earth is in between the sun and the gas giant. In this position, the two planets are about 415 million miles apart, but Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 can capture details as small as 80 miles wide.

"Jupiter is best known for the Great Red Spot, an anticyclone that has raged for at least 150 years," the statement continues. "This famous storm is larger than Earth. However, the Great Red Spot is slowly shrinking--a trend seen since the late 1800s. The reason for this phenomenon is still unknown. Hubble will continue to observe Jupiter in hopes of solving this mysterious riddle."

Watch the video below for more information about our view of this intriguing planetary neighbor.

Photo credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (NASA Goddard)