WEBVTT FILE 1 00:00:00.020 --> 00:00:04.020 [slate] 2 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:08.040 [slate] 3 00:00:08.060 --> 00:00:12.120 4 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:16.210 Well Jupiter is going to be very bright tonight and for the next 5 00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:20.370 several nights. As it rises in the east you'll be able to 6 00:00:20.390 --> 00:00:24.460 see it in the Virgo constellation. It will rise; it'll be 7 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.500 up all night. The reason it's such a great time to see Jupiter is because 8 00:00:28.520 --> 00:00:32.560 it's at a position in its orbit we call opposition, which means it's on the 9 00:00:32.580 --> 00:00:36.690 opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, which means it's relatively close to the Earth 10 00:00:36.710 --> 00:00:40.880 in its orbit. Which makes it appear relatively bright 11 00:00:40.900 --> 00:00:44.910 and big in the night sky. So it's a wonderful time to take a glimpse at Jupiter. 12 00:00:44.930 --> 00:00:48.930 [slate] 13 00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:52.980 Well we've taken advantage of the fact that Jupiter 14 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.070 is relatively close to the Earth to use the Hubble Space 15 00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:01.200 Telescope to take a nice, new snapshot. So this beautiful image from Hubble 16 00:01:01.220 --> 00:01:05.390 shows great detail of Jupiter's atmosphere. 17 00:01:05.410 --> 00:01:09.440 You can see these gorgeous atmospheric bands, different colors. 18 00:01:09.460 --> 00:01:13.530 They represent the different parts of the atmosphere, sometimes 19 00:01:13.550 --> 00:01:17.610 moving at different velocities around the planet. You can also see features 20 00:01:17.630 --> 00:01:21.720 of storms on Jupiter. That famous Great Red Spot. 21 00:01:21.740 --> 00:01:25.790 which is bigger than two Earths that could fit inside. Whirling around 22 00:01:25.810 --> 00:01:29.860 but there are other storms cropping. You can see some little white ovals 23 00:01:29.880 --> 00:01:33.990 there are other storms cropping up as well. So Jupiter as we're learning 24 00:01:34.010 --> 00:01:38.150 is a very dynamic planet. Lots of action, lots of changes over 25 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:42.210 time. You know we're also looking at Jupiter with other kinds of 26 00:01:42.230 --> 00:01:46.310 instruments and telescopes. We've used the Hubble to look at the poles 27 00:01:46.330 --> 00:01:50.420 of Jupiter and see the auroras. Jupiter 28 00:01:50.440 --> 00:01:54.560 has powerful auroras just like Earth has the northern lights. 29 00:01:54.580 --> 00:01:58.600 Well Jupiter's are even stronger. Jupiter has a strong magnetic field, which 30 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:02.660 feeds that activity. And in ultraviolet light, we've been able to see these auroras dancing 31 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.700 around as well. 32 00:02:06.720 --> 00:02:10.710 [slate] 33 00:02:10.730 --> 00:02:14.750 Well we're seeing changes over time and 34 00:02:14.770 --> 00:02:18.840 one thing that's helping us is that we're able to use multiple 35 00:02:18.860 --> 00:02:22.900 eyes to look at Jupiter. So the Juno probe that NASA 36 00:02:22.920 --> 00:02:27.070 launched has arrived at Jupiter. It's orbiting the planet. It's giving us 37 00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:31.130 close up images in detail of the different atmospheric bands 38 00:02:31.150 --> 00:02:35.180 and changes over time. And that we can compare with the images we're seeing from Hubble 39 00:02:35.200 --> 00:02:39.270 from a distance to really get a better overall 40 00:02:39.290 --> 00:02:43.420 picture of the planet. We're also learning about the interactions of the magnetic 41 00:02:43.440 --> 00:02:47.600 field, with the conditions on Jupiter itself. And we're learning a lot about 42 00:02:47.620 --> 00:02:51.630 Jupiter's moons as well which are intriguing. 43 00:02:51.650 --> 00:02:55.740 [slate] 44 00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:59.890 Well because Hubble has been operating for decades 45 00:02:59.910 --> 00:03:04.080 now, we've been able to look at Jupiter repeatedly over the years, 46 00:03:04.100 --> 00:03:08.130 and as we do we see something really intriguing and that is the fact that 47 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:12.230 Jupiter's Great Red Spot is changing over time. It's not always 48 00:03:12.250 --> 00:03:16.360 the same color. It's not always the same shape. In fact it's getting rounded over 49 00:03:16.380 --> 00:03:20.530 time and smaller over time. It seems to be shrinking. We don't really know why. 50 00:03:20.550 --> 00:03:24.580 But it's telling us that there's a lot of dynamical activity on Jupiter 51 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:28.600 well worthy of further study. 52 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:32.670 [slate] 53 00:03:32.690 --> 00:03:36.800 Well Europa is intriguing because its 54 00:03:36.820 --> 00:03:40.860 a moon, it's an icy moon, an ice-crusted moon, but there 55 00:03:40.880 --> 00:03:44.930 are plenty of reasons to believe that there's a liquid ocean, liquid water 56 00:03:44.950 --> 00:03:49.040 liquid ocean under that ice crust. So we're very curious to know of course 57 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:53.170 if there's liquid water, could it be habitable for life? That kind of thing. 58 00:03:53.190 --> 00:03:57.220 Lately we had a wonderful discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope 59 00:03:57.240 --> 00:04:01.270 of evidence that there are plumes of water vapor being 60 00:04:01.290 --> 00:04:05.360 expelled from between cracks in the ice of Europa. 61 00:04:05.380 --> 00:04:09.490 And these plumes which have been seen several times now 62 00:04:09.510 --> 00:04:13.670 may be a way that we can sample that water from the atmosphere 63 00:04:13.690 --> 00:04:17.710 from the inside, at least at first, and learn something about the nature of the water under the 64 00:04:17.730 --> 00:04:21.730 ice. 65 00:04:21.750 --> 00:04:25.850 [slate] 66 00:04:25.870 --> 00:04:29.990 There's all kinds of information about Hubble and access to the 67 00:04:30.010 --> 00:04:34.040 gallery of Hubble images at the website NASA.GOV/HUBBLE. 68 00:04:34.060 --> 00:04:38.100 And we're also reachable on Twitter @NASAHubble. 69 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.260