Planetary News: Space Telescopes (2010)

Hubble views Venus
Hubble Space Telescope ultraviolet-light image of the planet Venus, taken on January 24, 1995, when Venus was at a distance of 70.6 million miles (113.6 million kilometers) from Earth. Venus is covered with clouds made of sulfuric acid, rather than the water-vapor clouds found on Earth. At ultraviolet wavelengths cloud patterns become distinctive. In particular, a horizontal "Y"-shaped cloud feature is visible near the equator. Similar features were seen from Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus, and Galileo spacecraft, and are currently being observed by Venus Express. The polar regions are bright, possibly showing a haze of small particles overlying the main clouds. The dark regions show the location of enhanced sulfur dioxide near the cloud tops. From previous missions, astronomers know that such features travel east to west along with the Venus' prevailing winds, to make a complete circuit around the planet in four days. The image was taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera-2, in PC mode. False color has been used enhance cloud features. Credit: L. Esposito (University of Colorado, Boulder), and NASA

Hubble shoots the Moon
Hubble Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 mosaic of crater Copernicus. Hubble's crisp bird's-eye view clearly shows the ray pattern of bright dust ejected out of the crater over 1 billion years ago. Hubble can resolve features as small as 600 feet (200 meters) across in the terraced walls of the crater, and the hummock-like blanket of material blasted out by the meteor impact. The view was captured on April 16, 1999. Credit: John Caldwell (York University, Ontario), Alex Storrs (STScI), and NASA

Mars during the 2003 opposition
This photo was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope during Mars' closest approach to Earth in over 60,000 years, on August 27, 2005. At the time, Mars was enjoying summer in its southern hemisphere. Olympus Mons is visible near the upper center, and the three Tharsis Montes to its lower right. Valles Marineris is to the right of center. SourceCredit: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell University) and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute)

The 2001 global dust storm on Mars
A global dust storm on Mars in 2001 engulfed the entire planet for more than three months. SourceCredit: NASA, J. Bell (Cornell University), M. Wolff (Space Science Institute), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Mars during the 2007 opposition: longitude 50°
The Hubble Space Telescope took this photo of Mars during its 2007 opposition, when it was about 90 million kilometers from Earth. This view was captured on December 1, 2007 and is centered at a longitude of about 50 degrees. Credit: NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), J. Bell (Cornell University), and M. Wolff (Space Science Institute, Boulder)

Rotating Vesta
This animation is composed of 20 images of Vesta captured on May 14 and 16, 2007 by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. Vesta has a mean diameter of approximately 530 kilometers (330 miles), but is slightly shorter pole-to-pole (464 km / 288 mi) than it is at the equator (570 km / 354 mi) and rotates in 5.34 hours. The colors are not true colors but do show color variations across the surface. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Lucy McFadden (U. Maryland)

Hubble views the aftermath of an asteroid collision
This astonishing photo, captured by Hubble's newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 on January 25 and 29, 2010, shows the comet-like tail trailing behind the zone in space where two asteroids apparently collided on or before January 6. Visit the Hubble site for the full story.Credit: NASA, ESA, and D. Jewitt (UCLA)

Jupiter and Ganymede from Hubble
On April 9, 2007, Hubble caught Ganymede in the act of setting behind Jupiter. Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system, bigger than the planet Mercury. Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Three red spots on Jupiter
Three images of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in May, June, and July 2008 show three red spots mixing it up. All three red spots are anticyclonic storms. The storms move along the boundaries between Jupiter's belts and zones at different speeds, so confrontations are inevitable. These images document the fact that the Little Red Spot moved past the Great Red Spot relatively unscathed, but the same wasn't true for a new, "baby red spot," located at a latitude in between the two. After the baby spot's encounter with the Great Spot, it has lots its color and appears deformed. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon-Miller (NASA GSFC)

Saturn from Earth, October 1996, Ring Opening Angle 3.8 Degrees
The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Saturn every fall from 1996 to 2000. During that time, Saturn moved from southern spring to summer, and the rings opened as seen from Earth. Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Saturn from Earth, October 1997, Ring Opening Angle 9.8 Degrees
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Saturn from Earth, October 1998, Ring Opening Angle 15.5 Degrees
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Saturn from Earth, October 1999, Ring Opening Angle 20.4 Degrees
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Saturn from Earth, November 2000, Ring Opening Angle 24.1 Degrees
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

New dark spot on Uranus
As Uranus approached its equinox on December 7, 2007, the planet's storm activity was heating up. Each day exposed more of its northern hemisphere to sunlight for the first time in decades. The Hubble Space Telescope targeted Uranus on August 24, 2006, capturing this view of new dark spots in the northern hemisphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, L. Sromovsky and P. Fry (University of Wisconsin), H. Hammel (Space Science Institute), and K. Rages (SETI Institute)

Neptune and Triton
One of the best images of Neptune taken by Hubble employed the now-defunct high resolution channel of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Lots of cloud features on Neptune are visible, and there are hints of albedo variations on Triton. Credit: Hubble / Ted Stryk, Roane State CC

The Pluto system on May 15, 2005
This and another photo from the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed that Pluto has two more, small moons in addition to the previously known Charon. Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST Pluto Companion Search Team

Hubble photo of a trans-Neptunian binary
Even the Hubble Space Telescope can't resolve the tiny denizens of the Kuiper belt into disks. But if the objects are binary, like 2000 QL251, Hubble observations can help astronomers determine the masses and other properties of the two members of the binary system. Credit: NASA / STScI / Grundy et al. 2009

Hubble view of Eris (2003 UB313)
This is the first image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope of 2003 UB313, now named Eris, the Kuiper belt object discovered in 2005 to be larger than Pluto. The Hubble photos yielded an estimate of 2,400 kilometers plus or minus 100 kilometers (1,490 plus or minus 60 miles) for the diameter of 2003 UB313, only 110 kilometers (73 miles) larger than the 2,290 kilometers (1,422 miles) estimated by Hubble for Pluto. This image was captured on December 10, 2005. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Brown

A Distant World
Hubble Space Telescope image of planet Fomalhaut b orbiting the star Fomalhaut. It is the first visible light image of an exoplanet. Scientists imaged the planet by using a coronagraph that blocks out the star and it immediate vicinity. This accounts for the dark region at the center of the image. Credit: NASA, ESA, and Z. Levay (STScI)