photo #5362714

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the huge storm system that is a familiar sight in the clouds of Jupiter. It is known as the Great Red Spot. So why does it look royal blue? The colours of the spot and those of the pastel swirls across the rest of the planet in this image are not as they’d appear to the eye. For this is a composite false-colour image made with data gathered from the ultraviolet-observing capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope. The visible colours of blue, green, and red have been assigned to represent data in the ultraviolet spectrum of light, revealing reflections of light we would otherwise be unable to see. The colours act as a key for invisible information that researchers plan to use to map the three-dimensional structure of water clouds deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere, normally hidden beneath those of ammonia ice crystals that we see as the surface of the gas giant. The data will help us learn more about superstorm systems that carve paths across the face of Jupiter like the famous Great Blue Spot – sorry, Red Spot.