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<ul><li>Saturn’s innermost moon ‘Mimas’ might have been hiding an internal ocean.</li><li>The evidence comes from NASA’s Cassini mission that explored Saturn and its moons for a decade.</li><li>An internal ocean in Mimas can help in finding out more about habitable worlds in our solar system.</li></ul>Saturn stands out among other planets for its unique rings and for having several moons, one of most in the solar system. Among <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/researchers-say-earth-may-soon-have-saturn-like-rings-made-of-space-debris/articleshow/87735946.cms">Saturn’s</a> moons is Mimas which is famous for its resemblance to the Death Star from Star Wars. Mimas might be known for something else now, and that’s the possible existence of an internal ocean.<br /><br />Scientists from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) <a href="https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientist-uncovers-evidence-internal-ocean-small-saturn-moon">discovered</a> evidence that Mimas has a liquid internal ocean. This data actually comes from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-possible-evidence-of-life-on-mars/articleshow/88987723.cms">NASA’s</a> Cassini mission that explored Saturn and its moons for a decade. Scientists found that Cassini had identified an oscillation in the moon’s rotations which is said to point to a geologically active body able to support an internal ocean. <br /><br />According to SwRI’s Dr. Alyssa Rhoden, the possibility of Mimas having an ocean “represents a new class of small, ‘stealth’ ocean worlds with surfaces that do not betray the ocean’s existence.” It was first believed to be a frozen block of ice since the surface of Mimas is heavily cratered. But the new understanding is that it’s actually a liquid internal ocean. The libration (oscillation of the moon) is also believed to be warm enough for a liquid ocean to exist but at the same time it’s enough to not affect the moon’s icy shell. <br /><br />Rhodes added that “our new understanding has greatly expanded the definition of a potentially habitable world in our solar system and beyond.”<br /><br />The discovery of an internal ocean in Mimas is also expected to help understand Saturn’s rings, its mid-sized moons and the potentially habitable ocean moons, like the ones at Uranus. These oceans exist beneath layers of rock and ice and are known as interior water ocean worlds (IWOWs). Other known and popular IWOWs include Saturn’s Enceladus and Titan moons, and Jupiter’s moon Europa.<br /><br />There’s more investigation required for Mimas and its internal ocean which could help in learning more about habitable worlds in our solar system. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-possible-evidence-of-life-on-mars/articleshow/88987723.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">NASA’s Curiosity rover's latest findings could be the evidence of life on Mars</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/budget/news/india-is-expected-to-make-big-budget-allocation-for-renewable-energy/articleshow/89000378.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">India is expected to make big budget allocation for renewable energy but Modi needs states on board to fight climate change</a><br />

Scientists find new evidence of an internal ocean in Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon Mimas

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animation-saturn-rings-orbit-spin-faster-than-speed-of-sound-2021-3">Saturn's</a> small <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-shows-triple-moon-eclipse-on-jupiter-2021-8">moon</a> Mimas could have an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-jupiter-oceanic-moon-europa-radioactive-glow-2020-11">ocean</a> of liquid water deep beneath its surface.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-successfully-deployed-space-mirror-unfolds-2022-1">NASA</a>'s <keyword id="13007169" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cassini" source="Orion">Cassini</keyword> spacecraft detected swaying in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-gives-spacex-europa-clipper-launch-contract-jupiter-moon-mission-2021-7">icy moon</a>'s spin that could lead to internal heat.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-first-year-in-space-2021-12">NASA</a> is studying several moons of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-hubble-portraits-jupiter-saturn-uranus-neptune-changing-weather-colors-2021-11">Saturn</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-hubble-photos-jupiter-show-dark-red-storms-raging-2021-11">Jupiter</a> that carry oceans of liquid water deep beneath their surfaces, where <keyword id="12012815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="alien-life" source="Orion">alien life</keyword> could thrive. Another <keyword id="11900364" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">moon</keyword>, previously assumed to be a barren ice rock, might join their ranks.</p><p>Mimas is a small moon of <keyword id="12593808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="saturn" source="Orion">Saturn</keyword>, often compared to the Death Star from Star Wars, thanks to its large, distinct crater. Scientists have long believed that Mimas is an inert ball of ice because of its heavily cratered surface. Icy worlds with oceans are usually smooth, since changes in their surface ice pave over craters, or cracked. Tidal forces stretch and relax these moons, which both cracks the surface ice and heats the moons' insides, sustaining internal oceans.</p><p>But <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword>'s Cassini mission, which orbited and studied Saturn for over a decade, detected an unexpected oscillation in Mimas's rotation. As it spins on its axis, Mimas wobbles slightly. Such oscillations may point to an ocean deep beneath the moon's ice, according to a new analysis.</p><div type="image" title="saturn rings up close with distant moon mimas in the background" height="1013" width="1005" msid="89050348" hostid="261"></div><p>"If Mimas has an ocean, it represents a new class of small, 'stealth' <keyword id="13007168" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ocean-worlds" source="Orion">ocean worlds</keyword> with surfaces that do not betray the ocean's existence," Alyssa Rhoden, a geophysicist who led the analysis at the Southwest Research Institute, said in a <a href="https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientist-uncovers-evidence-internal-ocean-small-saturn-moon">press release</a>.</p><p>Rhoden's finding was <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0019103521005091?via%3Dihub">published</a> online in the journal Icarus this week, in a paper co-authored with Matthew Walker of the Planetary <keyword id="11896083" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science" source="Orion">Science</keyword> Institute in Arizona.</p><p>It's still no guarantee of a secret Mimas ocean. Researchers need to investigate the moon for further evidence.</p><p>"The work doesn't prove that there is a subsurface ocean on Mimas, but it does show that an ocean is perfectly consistent with the available data and our understanding of the physics, and the authors are appropriately cautious about this," Michael Bland, a space scientist who studies icy worlds at the US Geological Survey, and previously spoke with Rhoden about the research, told Insider in an email. "I think the study also opens as many questions as it answers."</p><h2>Underground oceans on distant moons could mean alien life in our <keyword id="11910185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solar-system" source="Orion">solar system</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="illustration underwater robot studying deep-sea vents in alien ocean" height="525" width="700" msid="89050349" hostid="261"></div><p>Mimas's oscillation could indicate that Saturn's gravity stretches and relaxes the planet as it spins — similar to the moon's gravity pulling Earth's water back and forth during tides. This process could build up energy deep inside Mimas, which is released as heat, warming its internal ice and creating an underground ocean of liquid water.</p><p>Rhoden and Walker developed computer models to simulate that stretching process for Mimas, including how it would affect the stability of the moon's ice shell, and how that stretching fits in with Cassini's measurements of Mimas's oscillation. The model indicated that Saturn's tidal pull could maintain an ocean lying beneath 14 to 20 miles of ice on Mimas.</p><p>"This result is really intriguing because it implies that we can't tell which moons in the outer solar system may have subsurface oceans just from their surface geology," Bland said.</p><p>Some moons — like Jupiter's Europa and Saturn's Enceladus — have plumes of water shooting up from their internal oceans, through their surface ice, and into space. In 2020, scientists also discovered evidence of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-discovers-ocean-dwarf-planet-ceres-could-host-life-2020-8">an underground ocean on a dwarf planet called Ceres</a>, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Salt deposits on Ceres's surface appear to have percolated up from liquid water below.</p><p>These ocean worlds could have deep-sea hydrothermal vents that produce energy for living organisms. Such vents serve as an energy source for life at the bottom Earth's oceans, where there is no sunlight. If Mimas has an ocean, it might be able to host such ecosystems, too.</p><div type="image" title="hydrothermal vent noaa oar nurp" height="1760" width="1183" msid="89050351" hostid="261"></div><p>But the study isn't enough evidence to prove that. If the researchers' models are off — if Mimas's ice cools faster than they assumed, for example — there may be no Mimas ocean at all. </p><p>"If the Cassini spacecraft had been able to fly closer to Mimas, it might have sensed a magnetic field generated by the Mimas ocean, which would be a direct confirmation that an ocean is present today," Steve Vance, who studies icy worlds at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Insider in an email. "Hopefully a future mission will be able to look for an ocean in Mimas."</p>

Saturn's 'Death Star' moon may have a secret ocean, revealing a new category of worlds that could host alien life

<p>The next time someone asks you where the biggest ocean is, point them toward Jupiter.</p><p>While Earth harbors about 320 million cubic miles of water, our planet is practically a desert compared to the rest of the solar system.</p><p>A moon of Jupiter called <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/europa-water-jet-hubble-telescope-photos-2016-9">Europa</a>, for example, which is roughly the size of our own moon, likely hides a subsurface ocean with more than <a href="http://www.popsci.com/europa-or-bust">twice as much water</a> as there is on Earth. Yet even that pales in comparison to Europa's neighbor Ganymede; more than <em>30 times</em> as much water as our home planet is thought to reside there as liquid and ice.</p><p>And scientists keep finding more water wherever they look. On September 28, researchers <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL070650/abstract">reported</a> that Dione - a small moon of Saturn - probably has a <a href="http://www.astro.oma.be/en/saturns-moon-dione-harbors-a-subsurface-ocean/">subsurface ocean</a>, too.</p><p>To see just how Earth stacks up agains other <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/oceans-on-planets-and-moons-infrographic-2015-9">ocean worlds</a>, Business Insider contacted <a href="https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Vance/">Steve Vance</a>, a planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who's crunched the numbers on just how much water might be out there.</p><p>The to-scale graphic below uses Vance's data to show the plausible volumes of water (both liquid and ice) for the nine ocean worlds verified so far:</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Skye Gould/Business Insider" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57f6bdb09bd978e7018b5545-960/bi-graphics_water on earth.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In order of how much water they have, from the least to the most, they are: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-outer-space-mission-saturn-moon-enceladus-science-2016-8">Enceladus</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/creation-of-saturns-oddball-moons-2012-10">Dione</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-moon-space-photos-2016-9">Earth</a>, <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/europa/indepth">Europa</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pluto-north-pole-nasa-picture-2016-2">Pluto</a>, <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/triton/indepth">Triton</a>, <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/callisto">Callisto</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/saturns-moon-titan-could-host-alien-life-2016-7">Titan</a>, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/water-on-ganymede-2015-3">Ganymede</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/there-could-be-oceans-on-this-death-star-moon-2014-10">Mimas</a>, a moon of Saturn, and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/mystery-pyramid-nasa-asteroid-belt-2016-3">Ceres</a>, the largest asteroid in the solar system, are also thought to have subsurface oceans - but scientists aren't yet sure how big each one might be.</p><p><em>Note: The graphic above is best viewed on a desktop.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-announced-hubble-found-jets-liquid-water-europa-2016-9">NASA has revealed the most compelling evidence yet that Europa may be able to support life</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="pqdHM0NjE6_BOZzH8lojtw6r1VT29j-v" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

These ocean worlds reveal just how little water we have on Earth

<ul><li>Creators and influencers on <keyword id="819905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Instagram" source="Orion">Instagram</keyword> can now monetise their content by allowing their fans to ‘subscribe’ to them.</li><li>Fans, in return, get loyalty badges, exclusive access to content and more.</li><li>Instagram says it won’t charge a commission at least until 2023.</li></ul><br />Facebook-owned Instagram has rolled out a new way to help creators monetise their content – subscriptions. The new feature allows Instagram users to subscribe for exclusive content from their favourite creators, like Instagram Live streams and badges, among other things.<br /><br />Instagram is currently <a href="https://business.instagram.com/blog/subscriptions-creators-instagram-recurring-monthly-income/">testing</a> this feature with a small number of creators and influencers in the US. The company noted that subscriptions will be expanded to include more creators in the coming weeks.<br /><br />For starters, fans will have to pay a monthly subscription fee to view exclusive content from their favourite creators. This will give them access to subscriber-only Lives and Stories, apart from a purple badge that will show their status as a subscriber to the content creator.<br /><br />Instagram says that the price tiers will range from $0.99 to $99 per month – ultimately, creators will have the freedom to choose their prices. And to promote this feature, Instagram says that it won’t charge a commission to creators ‘at least until 2023’, so there’s still a year to go for the company as well as the creators to test out this new feature.<br /><br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Instagram isn’t the first with paid subscriber-only plans" comment="subhead" text="Instagram isn’t the first with paid subscriber-only plans"><span data-til="noop">Instagram isn’t the first with paid subscriber-only plans</span></cmsannotation><br /><br />While Instagram’s subscription model could end up being the most useful for both creators as well as users, the Facebook-owned photo sharing service isn’t the first to offer subscriptions. Its rival Twitter has had the Super Follow feature for a while now, allowing users to pay between $2.99 to $9.99 a month to get exclusive content from their favourite creators.<br /><br />Facebook, too, has had subscriptions for a while now.<br /><br />But coming back to Instagram, subscriptions are one of the few options available to creators for monetisation. There are other options like Creator Shops, affiliate e-commerce, branded content marketplace, among other things.<br /><br />On the other hand, YouTube has had subscriptions for a long time now, allowing its users to become “members” of their favourite channels, giving access to loyalty badges, custom emoji, exclusive access to behind-the-scenes photos and videos, live streams and more.<br /><br />Outside of social media, websites like Patreon, Kickstarter, Ko-Fi are a few other options that allow content creators to monetise their audience.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/cred-expands-esops-pool-to-500-million-employees-can-own-12-5-of-fintech-startup/articleshow/89010053.cms">CRED says that all its employees get stock options, expands pool to $500 million</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/scientists-find-new-evidence-of-an-internal-ocean-in-saturns-death-star-moon-mimas/articleshow/89009893.cms">Scientists find new evidence of an internal ocean in Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon Mimas</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/call-of-duty-diablo-and-overwatch-are-among-the-major-titles-expected-to-be-made-available-on-xbox-game-pass/articleshow/88989516.cms"><strong>Call of Duty, Diablo and Overwatch are among the major titles expected to be made available on Xbox Game Pass</strong></a><br />

Instagram launches subscriptions to help creators monetise their content

<ul><li><keyword id="12999980" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="radian-aerospace" source="Orion">Radian Aerospace</keyword> has been developing a <keyword id="1605940" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space-plane" source="Orion">space plane</keyword> that can fly people and light cargo to low earth orbit.</li><li>The space plane will be fully reusable and capable of flying back just 48 hours after touchdown.</li><li>It will also be capable of delivering up to 2,270 kgs anywhere in the world in less than an hour.</li></ul>Space travel is slowly becoming more accessible with more people now flying to and fro <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-possible-evidence-of-life-on-mars/articleshow/88987723.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">space</a>. There are developments of various space travel means including a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/world-view-plans-balloon-trips-to-the-stratosphere-in-2024/articleshow/86772563.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">hot air balloon</a> that will let you take a trip to the stratosphere. Another means of space travel could be through a plane that can carry people and payloads.<br /><br />‘<keyword id="12999981" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="radian-one" source="Orion">Radian One</keyword>’ is a space plane in the making by Washington-based Radian Aerospace and it recently <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/radian-aerospace-emerges-from-stealth-announces-seed-funding-led-by-fine-structure-ventures-301463373.html" data-type="tilCustomLink">raised $27.5 million</a> in seed funding. The money will be used to develop Radian One, the “world's first fully functional horizontal takeoff and landing, single-stage to orbit vehicle.” <br /><br />The company has been operating in stealth mode so far with focus on the design and the initial development of the space plane, and the new investment will push it forward.<br /><cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Radian One space plane" comment="subhead" text="Radian One space plane"><span data-til="noop"><keyword id="12999982" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="radian-one-space-plane" source="Orion">Radian One space plane</keyword></span></cmsannotation><br />Radian One will be designed and shaped like a plane meaning that it will have wings which will make a big difference in spaceflight. So it will perform aircraft-like operations by delivering people and light cargo to low earth orbit (LEO). The space plane will launch and land horizontally as opposed to current liftoffs that take place vertically. But the space plane will require some push during takeoff that will be from a sled. <br /><br />In addition to flying to space, Radian One will also be able to perform a mission, refuel and fly again 48 hours after touchdown. The space plane is designed to be fully reusable, and it will even be able to stay in orbit for five days. <br /><br />The Radian One is also designed to fly here on Earth with capabilities of delivering up to 2,270 kgs anywhere in the world in less than an hour, according to a <a href="https://www.space.com/radian-aerospace-funding-reusable-space-plane" data-type="tilCustomLink">report </a>by space.com. <br /><br />The company said that its focus is not on space tourism but on making space travel more convenient. “We are not focused on tourism, we are dedicated to missions that make life better on our own planet, like research, in-space manufacturing, and terrestrial observation, as well as critical new missions like rapid global delivery right here on Earth," said Richard Humphrey, CEO and co-founder of Radian.<br /><br />Radian’s solution is said to be a low cost space transport that can help create new aerospace markets. There is however no launch timeline revealed as yet for the Radian One but the ambitious space plane is one worth waiting for.<br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:</strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/scientists-find-new-evidence-of-an-internal-ocean-in-saturns-death-star-moon-mimas/articleshow/89009893.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Scientists find new evidence of an internal ocean in Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon Mimas</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/producers-on-a-tom-cruise-film-set-in-space-are-planning-to-launch-the-worlds-first-movie-studio-connected-to-the-international-space-station/articleshow/89026485.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Producers on a Tom Cruise film set in space are planning to launch the world's first movie studio connected to the International Space Station</a><br />

Radian Aerospace raises $27.5 million to make the world’s first space plane a reality

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-hubble-space-telescope-offline-mystery-glitch-2021-11">NASA's Hubble Space Telescope</a> snaps annual portraits of the largest <keyword id="11910186" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="planets" source="Orion">planets</keyword> in our <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomer-animations-reveal-solar-system-physics-2021-10">solar system</a>.</li><li>This year's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-astronaut-thomas-pesquet-gorgeous-photos-from-space-2021-11">stunning photos</a> of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-space-telescope-wind-changes-jupiter-great-red-spot-2021-9">Jupiter</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/animation-saturn-rings-orbit-spin-faster-than-speed-of-sound-2021-3">Saturn</a>, <keyword id="12593809" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uranus" source="Orion">Uranus</keyword>, and <keyword id="11909523" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="neptune" source="Orion">Neptune</keyword> show changing weather and colors.</li></ul><p>It's school picture day for our <keyword id="11910185" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solar-system" source="Orion">solar system</keyword>'s distant planets. Every year, <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword>'s <keyword id="12189758" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="hubble-space-telescope" source="Orion">Hubble Space Telescope</keyword> spends a few days shooting photos of <keyword id="11949137" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jupiter" source="Orion">Jupiter</keyword>, <keyword id="12593808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="saturn" source="Orion">Saturn</keyword>, Uranus, and Neptune, and this year's portraits don't disappoint. The images capture mysterious changes in the planets' weather and colors — both exciting scientists and sometimes leaving them scratching their heads.</p><p>Hubble, which launched into Earth's orbit in 1990, is the world's most powerful space telescope. It has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-hubble-space-telescope-photos-nebula-galaxies-universe-2021-6">photographed</a> the births and deaths of stars, spotted new moons circling Pluto, and tracked interstellar objects zipping through our solar system. Its observations have allowed astronomers to calculate the age and expansion of the universe and to peer at galaxies formed shortly after the Big Bang.</p><p>Hubble's portraits, published by NASA on Thursday, depict visible changes in each planet's atmosphere. These outer worlds continually morph as tumultuous bands of gases and gargantuan storms rise, fall, change color, and reverse directions over months or years. The latest images, shot by Hubble in September and October, capture those changes in real time.</p><p>Planetary scientist Michael Wong said he loves how dynamic the distant planets are. </p><p>There can be different, but equally good explanations behind those atmospheric changes, Wong, who studies Hubble data on outer planets at the University of California, Berkeley, told Insider in an email.</p><h2>Hubble spots new storms and changing seasons across the solar system</h2><div type="image" title="hubble telescope in space above earth clouds" height="1528" width="2038" msid="87874825" hostid="261"></div><p>The telescope's sharp bright portrait of Jupiter revealed a series of new storms in the planet's northern hemisphere.</p><p>Since 2018, Jupiter's equator has darkened to a deep orange hue, visible in the newest portrait. The planet's middle belt is usually white or beige, but this is not the first time the Jovian equator's color has shifted.</p><p>"We think this may all be part of a climate cycle on Jupiter that repeats every six to eight years," Wong said. "Equatorial reddening events typically last three years."</p><div type="image" title="arrows shows the new storms on a picture of Jupiter on 2021 taken by Hubble telescope." height="1000" width="2000" msid="87874826" hostid="261"></div><p>As in previous years, Hubble's Jupiter portrait captures its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-great-red-spot-depth-nasa-juno-2021-10">Great Red Spot</a> in vibrant color. The spot, a raging storm that astronomers have observed on Jupiter for about 200 years, is up to<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jupiter-great-red-spot-depth-nasa-juno-2021-10"> 310 miles deep</a>, according to measurements that NASA's Jupiter-orbiting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-video-juno-spacecraft-jupiter-largest-moon-ganymede-2021-7">Juno</a> spacecraft took in 2019.</p><p>Saturn's colorful bands pop against the blackness of space. Peeking from below its rings, the planet's southern hemisphere appears blue, indicating that it was winter in the south when the photo was taken.</p><div type="image" title="saturn hubble portrait 2021" height="1085" width="1447" msid="87874827" hostid="261"></div><p>The image also captured four of Saturn's 82 moons. Those pictured — Tethys, Mimas, Enceladus, and Dione — are among its largest satellites.</p><div type="image" title="saturn hubble portrait 2021 annotated to circle and label small moons" height="1087" width="1802" msid="87874828" hostid="261"></div><p>Because Uranus and Neptune are much farther from Earth than Saturn or Jupiter, their portraits are less crisp. But scientists can still see interesting, sometimes puzzling, changes in their atmospheres.</p><p>Uranus's northern polar region appeared to be brightening in its springtime, when the northern region receives more UV radiation from the sun.</p><div type="image" title="uranus hubble portrait 2021" height="487" width="650" msid="87874830" hostid="261"></div><p>Although scientists don't fully understand Uranus's seasonal brightening, researchers are studying it. The shift in color may be related to changes in Uranus's atmospheric flow or the concentration of methane in the air.</p><p>Neptune's northern regions, on the other hand, are darkening in its 2021 portrait. The solar system's bluest marble appears to be growing even bluer.</p><p>Neptune's signature storm, the Dark Spot, appears on the upper left side of the planet's snapshot. It's not yet clear what makes Neptune's dark areas so dark.</p><p>"We are working on a paper suggesting that some of these planet-encircling dark areas are related to the dark spots somehow. But other dark areas may not be related, so it's uncertain," Wong said.</p><div type="image" title="neptune hubble portrait 2021" height="487" width="650" msid="87874831" hostid="261"></div><p>Last year, Hubble data revealed that the Dark Spot, which is wider than the Atlantic Ocean, had abruptly switched directions. It was inching south, where Neptune's biggest storms go to die, but suddenly changed course and moved north again in August 2020. Scientists aren't sure why that is.</p><p>"A lot of these questions could be answered by actually sending probes to the giant planets and making measurements inside the atmosphere," Wong said. "However, NASA's budget is limited, so even a single probe most likely would not have all the instruments needed to really measure cloud particles in detail."</p><p>Private space companies with bigger budgets haven't shown much interest in exploring the outer planets. SpaceX and its competitor Blue Origin — which flew founder Jeff Bezos to the edge of space in July — are aiming to build human settlements closer to Earth.</p><p>"I think Jeff Bezos' personal net worth of $200-plus billion would be enough to send 20 to 50 atmospheric entry probes EACH to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Instead, our nation has only been able to afford one probe to Jupiter," Wong said, adding, "We are trying to answer as much as we can with the data available to us."</p>

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