Hubble Watches Neptune's Dark Storm Die

Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally. Vertical VersionThis vertical version of the episode is for IGTV or Snapchat. The IGTV episode can be pulled into Instagram Stories and the regular Instagram feed. What is OPAL?OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) is a project to obtain long time baseline observations of the outer planets in order to understand their atmospheric dynamics and evolution as gas giants. The yearly observations from OPAL throughout the remainder of Hubble's operation will provide an important legacy of time-domain images for use by planetary scientists. Viewers might notice that some of the images of the same planets appear to be different colors. This is due to the fact that over the years, from Voyager to Hubble, many different instruments, and many different filters have been used. For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble. Music Credits: “The Granted Wish” by Nicholas Techer [BMI] via Koka Media [SACEM], Universal Publishing Production Music France [SACEM], and Universal Production Music.“Voyage Spectacular” by Rob Lane [PRS] via Abbey Road Masters [PRS], and Universal Production Music.“Celestial Waves” by Harry Vaman [SACEM] via Koka Media [SACEM], and Universal Production Music.“Solar Horizons” by David Rogers [PRS] and Paul Shaw [PRS] via Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS], and Universal Production Music.“Visionary” by Andy Blythe [PRS] and Marten Joustra [PRS] via Ingenious Music Publishing Ltd. [PRS], and Universal Production Music. Related pages

In late 2014 and early 2015, NASA's Kepler telescope observed the eighth planet in our solar system, Neptune. Kepler detected Neptune's daily rotation, the movement of clouds, and even minute changes in the sun's brightness, paving the way for future studies of weather and climate beyond our solar system. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music Provided by Killer Tracks:"Lost Contact" – Adam Salkeld & Neil Pollard"Processing Thoughts" – Theo Golding Beginning with a view from above the inner solar system that shows Kepler's orbit, the camera flies to Kepler and then looks along the Kepler telescope's line of sight. Zooming into the Kepler field reveals Neptune and some of its moons. Beginning tight on Kepler's view of Neptune, the animation zooms out to reveal Kepler's entire field, then its orbit. This artist's concept animation begins with a flyby of the icy moon Triton, then proceeds toward Neptune. Planetary textures are based on Voyager 2 imagery. Kepler recorded Neptune's brightness for several months, detecting small periodic changes that researchers used to study the planet. The Kepler spacecraft, launched in March of 2009, is a telescope designed to search for exoplanets, planets orbiting stars other than our sun. It does this by continuously measuring the brightness of over 100,000 stars, waiting for momentary dimming that might indicate a planet has crossed in front of its host star. Scientists can infer the size and orbital period of an exoplanet from the depth and frequency of such dips in the star's light curve.For the first four years of the mission, Kepler stared at a single 12° patch of the sky between the bright stars Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus, and Vega, in Lyra, where it found several thousand exoplanet candidates. But when the second of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels failed in 2013, Kepler was no longer able to point accurately at its original target, so scientists devised a new way to point the spacecraft using the remaining two reaction wheels and photon pressure from sunlight. The new mission was dubbed K2.Because of the new pointing method, K2 is limited to looking at fields along the plane of our solar system, but this also offers new ways to use the telescope's sensitive detectors. From November 2014 to January 2015, Kepler's field included the planet Neptune. Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, looked for the faint signal of moving clouds embedded within Neptune's light curve. The Kepler observations are unique, said Simon, because they allow us to see the light curve of an object close enough to image and resolve cloud features. These observations prove that rapid variations in light curves of brown dwarfs and exoplanets can be caused by changing clouds.Kepler is in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit, which just means that it's in orbit around the Sun and lagging behind the Earth, falling behind at the rate of 7.3 days per year. At the time of the Neptune observations, the spacecraft was trailing the Earth by about 6 weeks, or a little over 100 million kilometers. From this orbit, the K2 mission has identified hundreds of new exoplanet candidates.Learn more about Kepler's observation of Neptune. For More InformationSee [https://kepler.nasa.gov/](https://kepler.nasa.gov/) Related pages

Music credit: "Triangulate" by Gianluigi Gallo [PRS]; El Murmullo Sarao SGAE, Universal Sarao SGAE; SaraoMusic; Killer Tracks Production MusicWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel. The Hubble Space Telescope observed Jupiter on April 3rd, 2017 - just days before Jupiter is in opposition on April 7th. This new image of Jupiter is part of Hubble's Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy program, which is one of many ways Hubble provides science on the Jupiter system. View the NASA.gov web story here - nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/hubble-takes-close-up-portrait-of-jupiterEView the HubbleSite release images here - hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2017-15Learn more about Hubble's OPAL program here - archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/Learn more about NASA's Juno mission here - nasa.gov/junoLearn more about NASA's planned Europa Clipper mission here - nasa.gov/europa Related pages