Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Uranus

Turquoise sphere with bright North Pole and some white cloud bands

Hubble’s October 25th view of Uranus puts the planet’s bright northern polar hood in the spotlight. It’s springtime in the northern hemisphere and the increase in ultraviolet radiation absorbed from the Sun seems to be causing the polar region to brighten. Researchers are studying how the brightening polar hood results from changes in the concentration of atmospheric methane gas and the characteristics of haze particles, as well as the atmospheric flow patterns. Curiously, even as the atmospheric hood gets brighter, the sharp southernmost boundary remains fixed at the same latitude. This has been constant over the past several years of OPAL observations, perhaps because a jet stream is setting up a barrier at that latitude of 43 degrees. 

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The HST observations include those from program 16266 (A. Simon)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    UVIS/WFC3
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    25 October 2021
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F467M, F547M, F657N, F845M
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Uranus
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Gas Giant
  • Release Date
    November 18, 2021
  • Science Release
    Hubble’s Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res, 650 × 650
    tif (2.44 MB)
  • Full Res, 650 × 650
    png (601.5 KB)
Turquoise sphere with bright North Pole and some white cloud bands
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample medium wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F467M, Green: F547M, Orange: F657N, Red: F845M

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

Related Images & Videos

A colorful Hubble view of Jupiter (left), Saturn (top right), Uranus (bottom middle), and Neptune (bottom right).

OPAL Grand Tour

From its vantage point high above Earth's atmosphere, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year's grand tour of the outer solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — returning crisp images that complement current and past observations from interplanetary...

Clear image of Jupiter's banding

Jupiter

Hubble’s September 4th photo of Jupiter displays the ever-changing landscape of its turbulent atmosphere, where several new storms are making their mark, and the pace of color changes near the planet’s equator is continuing to surprise researchers. The planet’s equatorial zone...

Clear image of Jupiter's banding

Jupiter Compass

Yellow sphere with horizontal banding

Saturn

Hubble’s new look at Saturn on September 12 shows rapid and extreme color changes of the bands in the planet’s northern hemisphere, where it is now early autumn. The bands have varied throughout Hubble observations in both 2019 and 2020. Notably, Saturn’s iconic hexagonal storm,...

Yellow sphere with horizontal banding

Saturn Compass

Turquoise sphere with bright North Pole and some white cloud bands with annotations

Uranus Compass

Blue sphere with dark spot

Neptune

In observations taken on September 7th, researchers found that Neptune’s dark spot, which recently was found to have reversed course from moving toward the equator, is still visible in this image, along with a darkened northern hemisphere. There is also a notable dark, elongated...

Blue sphere with dark spot and annotations

Neptune Compass

Four gas giant planets - Jupiter (left), Saturn (top right), Uranus (bottom middle), and Neptune (bottom right).

Outer Planets Rotating

From its vantage point high above Earth's atmosphere, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year's grand tour of the outer solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Hubble's snapshots of the outer planets reveal both extreme and subtle changes rapidly...

Four gas giant planets - Jupiter (left), Saturn (top right), Uranus (bottom middle), and Neptune (bottom right).

Outer Planets Rotating (Annotated)

From its vantage point high above Earth's atmosphere, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has completed this year's grand tour of the outer solar system – Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Hubble's snapshots of the outer planets reveal both extreme and subtle changes rapidly...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 11, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News