Hubble's 100,000th Orbit

The Hubble Space Telescope has just recently completed its 100,000th orbit around Earth today, August 11, 2008. The telescope reached that milestone above the Pacific Ocean (Illustration above). It has been a long journey for this famous telescope, 18 years long, one that has let humans learn so much about the universe. However, it has not always been an easy life for the Hubble, marked by quite a few challenges and repairs. To mark this special event, the researchers at the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore, Maryland have decided to do something special.

These researchers decided to point the giant space telescope at a part of the nebula near star cluster NGC 2074. The nebula, 170,000 light-years away from us, is an intense area of star formation that may have been caused by a supernova explosion nearby. It is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy.

The colorful image taken by the Hubble, below, reveals many features of the nebula lighted up by strong ultraviolet radiation. Young stars existing in NGC 2074 are emitting strong radiation that is eating away the edges of the nebula. The area covered by the image spans a massive 100 light-years and huge towers of dust come out of the bright colorful walls of gas that form part of a large molecular cloud. To give a sense of scale, the seahorse-shaped tower at lower, right in the image measures about 20 light-years in length, approximately 4 times the distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to our sun!

This color image was taken by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, 2008. The Red colors show emission from sulfur atoms, green from glowing hydrogen, and blue from glowing oxygen.

Images: NASA

Rumble of the Red Spots

You may be familiar with the Great Red Spot, the huge storm brewing in the atmosphere of Jupiter. It is so large, that it can contain two or three Earths within itself! However, you may not know that the Great Red Spot is not alone.

The Red Spots

Three white storms came together to form a bigger storm, called Oval BA, in 2000 on Jupiter. In August 2005, Oval BA started to turn red, and right now is getting more red with time. Because of its color and similarity to the Great Red Spot, this red spot is now being called Red Spot Jr. It has passed by the Great Red Spot now twice. But, it doesn't just end there!

There was also a third red spot on Jupiter, discovered in May, nicknamed Baby Red Spot. However, it has just recently met its demise.

The Death of Baby Red Spot

As shown in the recent (late June/early July) picture of Jupiter by the Hubble Space Telescope above, Baby Red Spot met up with the Great Red Spot. And it was not a happy meeting. The small spot got stuck in the Great Red Spot's anticyclonic (counter-clockwise) spin, and all that came out was a pale and deformed spot. Experts think that this remaining spot will get sucked back into the Great Red Spot again.

What This All Means

The show of power by the Great Red Spot demonstrates its longevity. The recent show of events can tell us why this huge storm on Jupiter has lasted so long. It is known to be at least 178 years old, most likely older, and this was just an example of one of the reasons the Great Red Spot has reached this age.

The animation below of the three pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope shows the process by which the Great Red Spot has demolished Baby Red Spot. Also notice Red Spot Jr. passing underneath, unscathed.

Image and Video: NASA