Hubble treats astronomers to gorgeous close-up views of the eerie outer planets. But it’s a bit of a trick when it seems like the planet’s looking back at you!
This happened on April 21, 2014, when Hubble was being used to monitor changes in Jupiter’s immense Great Red Spot (GRS) storm. During the exposures, the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede swept across the center of the GRS. This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the center of a 10,000-mile-diameter “eye.” Momentarily, Jupiter took on the appearance of a Cyclops planet!
Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) Acknowledgment: C. Go and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
Images and more information:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2014/31
http://www.nasa.gov/hubble
http://heritage.stsci.edu/2014/31
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C.
