Jupiter’s cloud patterns are undergoing dramatic changes, as revealed by new images of the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar transformations of the giant planet’s clouds have been witnessed in the 1980s and early 1990s, but never in such detail – and they have never been explained. Hubble has been keeping an eye on Jupiter to provide context for close-up observations made by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which flew by the solar system’s largest planet in February on its way to Pluto. At this time some changes were already evident. Then, between March 25 and June 5th, a white band in the planet’s northern hemisphere turned brown, while a gap in the cloud layer produced a serpent-shaped dark streak in the same area.
Hubble Catches Jupiter Changing Its Stripes