Hubble Telescope Back On The Job With Stunning Jupiter Photo
The resulting picture, taken Thursday, is the sharpest visible-light photo of the dark spot and Hubble’s first science observation since astronauts repaired and upgraded it in May, NASA said.
Earth-based telescopes have been trained on Jupiter since an amateur astronomer in Australia noticed the new mark, probably created when a small comet or asteroid plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere and disintegrated, early Monday.
But in its rarified orbit 347 miles above the Earth, the Hubble has a better view of the gaseous planet.
This week’s event marks only the second time scientists have recorded debris colliding with Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in our solar system. The appearance of the impact spot is changing day to day in the planet’s cloud tops, making it a priority for scientists to document it quickly.
Jupiter serves as an asteroid catcher to protect Earth. Some scientists say that for a planet to sustain life, it has to have an asteroid catcher like Jupiter in its solar system. That gash is seriously the size of Earth! Scary! Cool picture! Anyways, I have a song called “Goodbye Jupiter” you may like! http://identityarmy.wordpress.com/files/2009/07/derek-jordan-goodbye-jupiter.mp3
We have learned far more from the Hubble telescope than from all of our manned space flights put together (although some of those missions were necessary to launch and repair Hubble). Manned space flight is extremely inefficient and expensive.