
Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa - jmsflknr
https://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic2017/
======
java-man
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen)

~~~
ISL
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 finer-grained control of military escalation.

We are seeing the next evolution of these effects as ordinary citizens can now
get access to imaging systems that were once the realm of the Keyholes. They
are journalists and free press in the sky. The internment camps of Xinjiang
can't be hidden:
[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alison_killing/satellit...](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alison_killing/satellite-
images-investigation-xinjiang-detention-camps)

We must, of course, be wary of the societal effects of these imaging systems.
If only some have access to orbital imaging, the asymmetry in power can be
substantial and the norms for privacy can erode.

~~~
java-man
I do not disagree with this. I wanted to point out an order of magnitude
difference between science, and politics (of fear?).

We built nuclear power plants not because we needed electricity, but because
we needed plutonium for the bomb. We went to the moon in part because "it is
hard", but mainly as a way to stick it to the Russkies. We built space
telescopes to spy on the "opponent". Yes, that did indeed kept the world in a
balance for quite some time, amazingly, but imagine if we, collectively, were
just a tad smarter and instead of this, directed our efforts to science.

~~~
admissionsguy
You could extend the argument to intra-national competition. What if instead
of competing with each other, we were all aligned towards common goals.
Unfortunately and sadly, such is human nature that we are hardly motivated by
much else than one-upping each other.

~~~
hasa
This is true. Instead of competing against each other, we -I mean all nations
and individuals - should do something to support efforts so that humans can
some day escape this planet. Earth is not habitable forever.

~~~
dorgo
I struggle to imagine what could happen to earth to make it less suitable to
support human life than any other known planet.

~~~
hasa
There are many very likely scenarios making this planet unhabitable: asteroid,
black hole coming near solar system and moving planet distances, gamma ray
burst, any deviation in sun's radiation. All these are clearly possible and
likely to happen in the long run.

------
Causality1
It will be quite sad when Hubble retires. JWST is a superior scientific
instrument but I believe something immaterial but very important will be lost
when we don't have a high-power visual spectrum telescope overhead. Infrared
just doesn't have the ability to fire hearts and minds like visible light.

------
Johnny87
Looks like a painting. How cool is it that we actually have the technology to
finally see these odd planets!?

~~~
billforsternz
I looked at the Jupiter and Saturn with a modest 14 inch telescope last week
[https://www.darkskyproject.co.nz/tours/crater-
experience/](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.

~~~
pkaye
How good is the nighttime visibility in New Zealand given its a somewhat
isolated island? Here is California I would have drive somewhere out far for
it to be dark enough.

~~~
justinator
It's absolutely insane. It's not just a starry night - it's as if the sky is
DRIPPING with stars. Why even go to sleep?

~~~
lostlogin
Where about are you looking from?

------
dmreedy
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 dots in the sky. Especially relative to
the timescale they operate on.

~~~
cmehdy
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-...](https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/794/nasa-research-reveals-
saturn-is-losing-its-rings-at-worst-case-scenario-rate/)

------
oh_sigh
I'm really disappointed that JWST doesn't support visible light imaging. Maybe
there's better science value to non-visible light sources but for PR it is
great.

~~~
jcims
There's still a spectrum and they can use that for colorization -
[https://www.space.com/11985-spitzer-space-telescope-
photos-i...](https://www.space.com/11985-spitzer-space-telescope-photos-
infrared-universe.html)

------
commonturtle
Man, I'd love to be able to get a really high resolution print of this framed
so I can hang it in my living room.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
Your tax dollars at work:
[https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2020/42/4739-Im...](https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2020/42/4739-Image)

~~~
sq_
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.

~~~
addled
[https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/](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.

~~~
sq_
That's a great resource! Thank you for sharing.

------
noisy_boy
> Researchers say the Great Red Spot now measures about 15 800 kilometres
> across, big enough to swallow the Earth. The super-storm is still shrinking,
> as noted in telescopic observations dating back to 1930, but its rate of
> shrinkage appears to have slowed. The reason for its dwindling size is a
> complete mystery.

Isn't a storm's slowing down is normal due to loss of energy? Probably am
missing some physics 101...

Also, I didn't know there were auroras on Jupiter:
[https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1613a/](https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1613a/)

------
filearts
I would love to see an image like that combined with a depth map to allow us
to move it around and get a sense of the vertical scale of those storms!

~~~
rement
Here is an image of Earth compared to the biggest storm on Jupiter [1] (from
2006). Jupiter is _big_.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot#/media/File:Jup...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot#/media/File:Jupiter,_Earth_size_comparison.jpg)

------
holler
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?

~~~
dylan604
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.

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

~~~
elihu
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.

~~~
dylan604
[https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/videos/index.html](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/videos/index.html)

------
allenu
Kind of neat how it's so far away that there's really no foreshortening of the
surface since relatively speaking it's all proportionally the same distance
from us. The surface just looks flat and not rounded like a sphere.

------
mixmastamyk
Reminds me of the Expanse, just caught up a few nights ago. They spend quite a
bit of time on Ganymede and Io in the third season. Imagine looking out the
window to see Jupiter taking a significant fraction of the sky. :D

------
jcims
I wish they would send something like the Cassini spacecraft to Jupiter. Just
gobs and gobs of eye candy until the sensor gets nuked to bits.

~~~
dylan604
You mean like Juno?

[https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html)

------
bishalb
Looks like an oil painting.

------
mocmoc
Beautiful

