Jupiter

This black and white picture of Jupiter, taken in green light at 1:14 a.m. on the 11th March, 1991 by the Planetary Camera on NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a wealth of fine detail in the clouds that cover the planet. The Great Red Spot is seen at the lower right, also on the right near the equator the satellite Europa is disappearing behind the limb of the planet. The dark 'j' shaped clouds along the equator are the result of a pattern of intense jet streams in the Jovian atmosphere. This picture is as sharp as the Voyager pictures taken five days before the closest approach in 1979.

Detailed comparison with the Voyager pictures shows that a totally different cloud structure has formed over the past twelve years. An HST investigator group is planning to collect Jupiter images using the Planetary Camera on a regular basis over the next several years to record the detailed evolution of Jovian weather. These data will be taken in several colours to study the weather at different altitudes in the atmosphere.