Theme: Our Dynamic Solar System

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

Text, View Space. Coming Up. Explore Changes in your Corner of the Cosmos. The show will continue in 15 seconds. 

 

(SPEECH) 

[COSMIC MUSIC] 

(SPEECH) 

[POP MUSIC] 

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

animation of a laptop, a man, and a telescope 

 

One night in July 2009, an amateur astronomer was taking images of the planet Jupiter through his personal telescope when he noticed something odd. 

 

A large black splotch had appeared in the planet's southern hemisphere. 

 

The observer quickly alerted professional astronomers, and telescopes around the world slewed toward Jupiter to take a look. 

 

They saw the new spot, too. 

 

Different photographs with the spot circled 

 

Hubble Space telescope photograph with smudge circled 

 

Astronomers concluded that an asteroid or comet had recently slammed into Jupiter and exploded, creating the black mark. 

 

They had seen similar scars on Jupiter 15 years earlier. 

 

In 1994, fragments of a broken-up comet slammed into Jupiter, creating several large, long-lasting black marks in the planet's atmosphere. 

 

Hubble Telescope photo showing a line of black spots on the surface of the planet 

 

In 2009, Hubble and other telescopes followed the new impact site for months. 

 

They watched the black scar get stretched by Jupiter's ferocious winds and then eventually fade away. 

 

Before this impact, astronomers had predicted that Jupiter might go a century or more between such collisions. 

 

But with two dramatic impact events in 15 years, the solar system proved that it's a livelier place than ever thought. 

(SPEECH) 

 [MUSIC PLAYING] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Myth versus Reality, a constellation map with a horned bull, two planets. 

Myth, Planets and other objects in the Solar System do not change over human lifetimes. 

Reality, We can observe changes on planets, moons, and other objects in the Solar System. Clouds and storms pop up on planets with atmospheres. Geysers and volcanoes erupt from some moons in the outer solar system. Comets grow tails and can break up and disintegrate as they travel closer to the Sun. Asteroids and comets crash into planets, forming impact scars on the surfaces or cloud tops. The Sun releases sudden bursts of particles into space. Our solar system is a dynamic place. 

(SPEECH) 

 [SLOW ELECTRONIC MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 The Sun rotates in space. 

Text, The Sun never sleeps. 

Gases burn in bursts and sparks of orange all over the Sun's surface. 

Text, Seething-hot gas bubbles and churns incessantly. 

Dark, gaseous filaments twist and turn. 

Towering magnetic loops, illuminated by charged particles flowing along them, rise and fall constantly. 

Bright flares pop and flash. 

Long strands of super-hot gas lift off the Sun and frequently escape into space. 

(DESCRIPTION) 

A planetary body against blackness. 

 

(SPEECH) 

[NEW-AGE MUSIC] 

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

Title, Our Stormy Solar System. 

 

Planet Earth with white swirls above water and land. 

 

Text, On Earth, large storms can be forces of destruction and terror. 

 

But imagine a storm that's bigger than Earth itself. 

 

Light orange and blue planet with large swirl of dark orange. 

 

Text, One such storm has been raging on Jupiter for hundreds of years. 

 

And it's changing. 

 

Side by side photos, Jupiter's Great Red Spot in 1879 and 2014. Text, In the late 1800s, Jupiter's Great Red Spot was so big three Earths could fit inside it. 

 

Craft with large white disc travels through space. 

 

A hundred years later, during the Voyager spacecraft flybys of 1979, the Great Red Spot had shrunk to twice the size of Earth. 

 

Shiny silver tube-shaped telescope with paneled wings floats. 

 

Text, The Hubble Space Telescope has monitored the Spot's shrinkage since the early 1990s. 

 

Photos of Red Spot dated 1995, 2009, and 2014. 

 

Today, Jupiter's famous storm is only a bit bigger than Earth. 

 

As the Great Red Spot has shrunk, new stormy spots have appeared and grown on Jupiter. 

 

Three oval shapes near the Great Red Spot are highlighted. 

 

Text, Astronomers have tracked these three white ovals since the 1930s. 

 

Black and white photos dated '97, '98, '99, and 2000 show the three ovals closer and closer together. 

 

Text, From 1997 to 2000, Hubble watched as the three ovals merged, forming a storm half the size of the Great Red Spot. 

 

Next to the Great Red Spot, a smaller red spot. 

 

In early 2006, the resulting oval turned red, giving Jupiter two red spots. 

 

It was the first time anyone had witnessed the emergence of a red spot on Jupiter. 

 

Nearer to the small red spot is a third oval shape with dark orange in the center. 

 

Text, Then, in 2008, yet another Jovian storm spontaneously turned from white to red. 

 

In just a few years, Jupiter went from having one red spot to three. 

 

Photo dated May 2008 shows three oval shapes, small medium and large. 

 

Text, But the newest, quote, baby red spot, unquote, would not last long. 

 

June 2008 photo shows baby red spot closer to Great Red Spot, July 2008 photo shows just the two spots, medium and large. 

 

A few months after turning red, the smaller storm passed by the Great Red Spot and was destroyed. 

 

Farther away from the Great Red Spot, quote, Red Spot Jr., unquote, has survived several brushes with the monster storm and continues on today. 

 

Text, Jupiter isn't the only place in the solar system where big storms come and go. 

 

Spacecraft with white disc flies through starry darkness. 

 

When NASA's Voyager 2 flew past Neptune in 1989, astronomers saw an enormous dark vortex that reminded them of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. 

 

Bright blue Neptune with an oval spot near center which is a darker blue. 

 

Had this Great Dark Spot been swirling on Neptune for centuries, like the Great Red Spot on Jupiter? 

 

In 1994, Hubble offered a clue to this mystery. 

 

1994 Visible and infrared composite. Three hazy shots of Neptune with scatters of pink splotches but no dark blue spot. 

 

When Hubble turned its great eye onto Neptune, it found some smaller cloud systems scattered across the planet. 

 

But the Great Dark Spot had vanished. 

 

Bright spherical body which glows light blue. 

 

Text, The opposite happened on Uranus. 

 

When Voyager 2 flew past Uranus in 1986, it found almost no activity in the planet's clouds. 

 

Uranus with various shades of blue stripes which run top to bottom, Close-up view of one oval-shaped dark spot. 

 

But 20 years later, Hubble revealed a dark spot brewing in the clouds of Uranus. 

 

Compared to giant Uranus, the spot seemed small. 

 

Close-up view of Uranus' dark spot turns 90 degrees, an outline of the United States lays over the top. 

 

Text, However, if transported to Earth, the vortex would have covered two-thirds of the continental United States. 

 

Eventually, this storm faded as well. 

 

Three black and white infrared light images from the Keck Observatory dated August 8 1998, August 5 2014, and August 6 2014, Images show bright spots in different locations. 

 

Text, But other storms continue to come and go on Uranus. 

 

Huge storms can erupt on small planets too. 

 

Orange planetary body with splotches of black near center and areas of white-blue at both ends. 

 

Text, Mars is known for its fierce and unpredictable dust storms. 

 

On June 26, 2001, Hubble spotted a dust storm brewing in Hellas Basin, a large crater in the southern hemisphere of Mars. 

 

Features of Mars disappear underneath a hazy orange color. 

 

Within days, the entire planet was enveloped in dust. 

 

Photos from August 9, 10, 14, and September 4, All show the planet covered in a cloudy orange. 

 

Text, Dust shrouded Mars for three months. 

 

Giant white swirl over body of blue water. 

 

Text, Planet Earth has its own powerful storms. 

 

The next time one of them is barreling down on your hometown, prepare and take shelter. 

 

Blue Earth against blackness of space, the continents of North America and South America. 

 

Text, But be thankful that the storm will be over soon and won't engulf your entire planet for months or centuries at a time. 

 

Earth becomes smaller as it recedes to distance.

(SPEECH) 

 [PIANO MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 A spiral swirl of violet gas clouds. 

Text, A colossal hurricane whirls around Saturn's north pole. 

The eye of this hurricane is over a thousand miles across-- 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. 

Clouds at the edge of the maelstrom whip around at more than 300 miles per hour. 

The giant hurricane was hidden in darkness until 2009, when spring arrived to Saturn's northern hemisphere. 

It could have been raging for many years. 

(SPEECH) 

 [ORCHESTRAL MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Galaxies in space beyond a planet's edge. 

Text, at-a-GLANCE. SEASONS CHANGE. 

The Earth rotates. 

Text, Earth has seasons. 

Snow covers the north, then melts away. 

Earth rotates on an axis. 

Text, The seasons are caused by the tilt of our planet's axis. 

The Earth revolves around the Sun. 

Text, As Earth orbits the Sun, one half of the planet, or one "hemisphere," is pointed more toward the Sun than another. 

northern winter. When the northern hemisphere is pointed away from the Sun, it receives less sunlight. It is winter there. 

southern summer. In the southern hemisphere, it is summer. 

The Earth orbits the sun 180 degrees. 

Text, northern summer. When the northern hemisphere is pointed toward the Sun, it receives more sunlight. It is summer there. 

southern winter. In the southern hemisphere, it is winter. 

The Earth orbits the sun 270 degrees. 

Text, Spring and fall occur when the sunlight reaching the northern and southern hemispheres is roughly equal. 

Text, Some planets in our solar system have even greater axial tilts, while others have almost none at all. MERCURY 0 degrees. VENUS 177.4 degrees. EARTH 23.45 degrees. MARS 23.98 degrees. JUPITER 3.08 degrees. SATURN 26.73 degrees. URANUS 97.92 degrees. NEPTUNE 29.6 degrees. The greater a planet's axial tilt, the more extreme its weather changes. Uranus has an extreme axial tilt, close to 90 degrees. 

Earth and Uranus side by side. 

Text, During winter and summer, its poles point almost directly toward and away from the Sun. 

Uranus orbits the Sun. 

Text, summer. In summer, one hemisphere of Uranus is bathed in sunlight all day long. 

winter. Meanwhile, the opposite hemisphere experiences a long, dark winter. 

Uranus orbits the Sun. 

Text, Because a year on Uranus is equal to 84 years on Earth, each of its seasons lasts 21 Earth years. 

(SPEECH) 

 [PIANO MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Neptune rotates in space. White clouds drift over its blue surface. 

Text, NEPTUNE. ARTIST COMPOSITE OF HUBBLE OBSERVATIONS. Neptune was experiencing a rash of clouds when the Hubble Space Telescope turned its attention to the distant planet in June, 2011. The high-altitude clouds, colored pink here, are made of methane ice crystals. 

A pink cloud drifts across the north pole. 

Text, A few years earlier, Neptune had fewer clouds, with most in the southern hemisphere 

Hubble's observations showed that Neptune's northern hemisphere was getting cloudier as winter arrived there. 

(SPEECH) 

 [ELECTRONIC MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of planets. 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY 

Myth side 

Text, Scientists know all there is to know about the Solar System. 

Reality side 

Text, We are continually making new discoveries about the Solar System. Telescopes and spacecraft are constantly revealing once-secret details about the Sun, planets, and small bodies in the Solar System. Small moons, asteroids, comets, and other objects are still being discovered. Observations also reveal how objects in the Solar System change over time. 

(SPEECH) 

 [MUSIC PLAYING] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Text, Jupiter's moon Io is a violent place. 

It is the most volcanically active body in the solar system. 

As NASA's New Horizons spacecraft passed Jupiter in 2007, it caught one of Io's volcanoes spewing a plume of material. 

The volcanic plume towered 200 miles above the moon's surface.