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Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

spacetelescope.org

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Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#41
post #23
post #3

For one Hubble, something like a dozen of Keyhole spy telescopes have been launched [0]. Just imagine the kind of science we would have gotten if we launched a dozen of Hubbles instead... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen

I think one can readily argue (and I'm a physicist, so I really love outward-looking telescopes) that reconnaissance satellites will tend to make the world a more-peaceful place. Uncertainty can lead humans to make decisions to handle a worst-case scenario that isn't actually taking place. High-quality imaging makes it difficult for nation-states to bluff or to understate the scale of decay/disaster and allows for fi…

Also, often times science instruments do sit on those satellites, they just aren't as cool as Hubble.

I worked on a satellite that was outward facing above a Navy satellite.

We wouldn't have got in space w/o the military subsidy, and I think it'll take society a long time to pay off that debt/slough off the infrastructure, but we're starting to make progress.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#42
post #2

Looks like a painting. How cool is it that we actually have the technology to finally see these odd planets!?

I looked at the Jupiter and Saturn with a modest 14 inch telescope last week https://www.darkskyproject.co.nz/tours/crater-experience/ The two planets themselves, and the four large moons of Jupiter and of course the rings of Saturn were all very visible, and this kind of old school technology has been available for hundreds of years.

But basically I agree, Hubble and robot planetary exploration are awesome.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#43
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The famous "deep field" image from Hubble almost didn't happen, at least for many more years, due to limited time availability[0]. > “The telescope allocation committee would never have approved such a long, risky project,” Other similar "high risk" experiments would be more likely to occur if time constraints were not such a concern. [0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/04...

Hubble’s replacement, James Webb, could offer us an opportunity to have a second space telescope. We just need to figure out how to repair the Hubble.

Its not a replacement . Its a successor

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#44
post #12

What are the odds in our lifetime there will be a probe sent into orbit and then down into the atmosphere with high-resolution cameras that can beam back imagery/video of the entire trip? I think it'd be fascinating to see what it's like both above and while descending through the clouds. Also, is it possible life could exist in the clouds similar to how we now speculate on Venus?

I imagine it would be as un-spectacular as flying in a plane through clouds. Nothing to see. It would be that all the way to the point the camera melted and/or crushed.

perhaps but I would think the descent before entering the clouds would have plenty to look at..

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#45
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine it would be as un-spectacular as flying in a plane through clouds. Nothing to see. It would be that all the way to the point the camera melted and/or crushed.

perhaps but I would think the descent before entering the clouds would have plenty to look at..

Video from a low orbit satellite could be pretty spectacular. Especially if it's in a polar orbit and can see in whatever wavelength is necessary to see the weird geometrically symmetrical storms at the poles.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#46
post #3

For one Hubble, something like a dozen of Keyhole spy telescopes have been launched [0]. Just imagine the kind of science we would have gotten if we launched a dozen of Hubbles instead... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen

It's funny when you see people ask things like "if we ever pointed Hubble at Earth, how much detail could we see?" Ask the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency!

Or refer to that picture Trump printed out of the Iranian (Pakistani?) rocket failure that was apparently being watched with a keyhole satellite..

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#47
post #7

It never occurred to me that the Great Red Spot would be shrinking. It's logical that storm systems are dynamic (and finite) things, but I find it striking that in another hundred years, people may never think of Jupiter as having such a dramatic feature. And who knows what new ones may have developed. I suppose that's as much a commentary on how short a time we've been able to witness these phenomena as more than do…

On a much longer timescale but still within habitability of the Earth (theoretically..), Saturn's rings will also disappear[0]. (300 million years)

[0] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/794/nasa-research-reveals-...

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#48
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your tax dollars at work: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2020/42/4739-Im...

I always wish that it was a little easier to find the pages with high resolution downloads of all these amazing NASA telescope and rover images. It'd be great if they could create one central repository that all of them would go to for people to look through.

https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/

Is pretty good. Can filter by mission, instrument, or target. Resolution is kind of hit or miss, as a lot of it is raw or minimally processed, but that is part of the fun.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#49
post #2

Looks like a painting. How cool is it that we actually have the technology to finally see these odd planets!?

I looked at the Jupiter and Saturn with a modest 14 inch telescope last week https://www.darkskyproject.co.nz/tours/crater-experience/ The two planets themselves, and the four large moons of Jupiter and of course the rings of Saturn were all very visible, and this kind of old school technology has been available for hundreds of years. But basically I agree, Hubble and robot planetary exploration are awesome.

How times have changed that a 14" telescope is "modest" :) My first was a 50mm refractor, and I used a 5" Maksutov for the longest time before settling down with an 8" Dob. An 18" truss-tube Dob is in the works.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a few hundred years now, we've been looking at the planets. Finally makes it sound like we just did this yesterday or within current life times.

For the past few hundred years until recently, we've been seeing bright and fuzzy dots. There's a difference between that, and ~640000 square pixels worth of details we see in the article.

I think we've had really good views of Jupiter for awhile. The Great Red Spot was identified over 300 years ago and tracked consistently for over 100 years. But Jupiter is huge so it's fairly easy to see in relatively good detail.
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