NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Monitors Jupiter in Support of the New Horizons Flyby
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope took this true-color view of Jupiter in support of the New Horizons Mission. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on February 17, 2007, using the planetary camera detector. Jupiter’s trademark belts and zones of high- and low-pressure regions appear in crisp detail. Circular convection cells can be seen at high northern and southern latitudes. Atmospheric features as small as 250 miles (400 km) across can be discerned.
Hubble will continue to photograph Jupiter as well as its volcanically active moon, Io, over the next month as the New Horizons spacecraft flies past Jupiter. New Horizons is en route to Pluto, and made its closest approach to Jupiter on February 28, 2007.
Through combined remote imaging by Hubble and in situ measurements by New Horizons, the two missions will support each other scientifically to learn more about the Jovian atmosphere, the aurorae, and the charged-particle environment of Jupiter and its interaction with the solar wind.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
For images and other information about Jupiter, visit:
http://hubblesite.org/news/2007/11
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. The Institute is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., Washington.
