NASA ’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured aglorious imageof Jupiter , with the flatulency giant coming to its snug point to us in a yr .

Jupiter will be at opposition today ( April 7 ) , which is the point in its arena where its directly opposite the Sun in our sky . This also occur to be the point where it ’s nearest to our satellite , when it will be just 670 million kilometer ( 416 million Roman mile ) away . At its furthest , it can be upwards of 1 billion kilometers ( 620 million miles ) forth .

To make the most of this snug feeler , NASA take aim the Hubble scope to image Jupiter on April 3 . Using its Wide Field Camera 3 ( WFC3 ) , it detect the major planet in ultraviolet , seeable , and infrared light . At this distance , Hubble was capable to see features on Jupiter as little as 130 kilometers ( 80 miles ) across .

This result picture shows a all-encompassing range of features on the planet . For a start , we can see the distinct bands that run around the major planet ’s equator . The banding are created by the cloud allowing more or less light through , due to quantities of frozen ammonia . The more there is , the lighter the bands as more light is reflect . tip of up to 650 kilometers per 60 minutes   ( 400 miles per hr ) separate the striation .

We can also see the huge anticyclonic tempest known as the Great Red Spot here , which has been raging for at least 400 years . But despite being big enough to swallow Earth , the violent storm isstarting to shrivel , confirmed by this and previous images . Scientists are n’t yet sure why it is shrinking .

While Hubble ’s image is impressive , let ’s not forget that we ’ve got a spacecraft in cranial orbit around Jupiter – Juno – that is sending back images and data point on this reality . The mission has had abit of a hitch , but we ’re still await some pretty awful skill over the next year .

At this closest spot , Jupiter is also going to bevisible on Earth , come out as the second brightest satellite after Venus in our   night sky . In the UK and US , it ’ll be seeable after sunset rising above the eastern sensible horizon . And with a scope or binoculars , you should easily be capable to make out its four largest synodic month – Io , Europa , Ganymede , and Callisto .

It attain opposition more or less every 13 month , but if you do n’t get a chance to get outside and see it this time , you may always watchSlooh.comfor live coverage of the event .