The Hubble Space Telescope turned its all-seeing camera eye on Jupiter to aid NASA’s New Horizons mission.

The view seen here is actually three separate images stitched together to blend Jupiter’s swirling storm bands (center) with the auroral displays at its north and south poles. The observations will be compared to New Horizons’ images to develop a better understanding of Jovian auroras.

Astronomers used the ultraviolet camera of Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys to reveal auroral emissions that are always present at Jupiter and outshine Earth auroras by 10 to 100 times.

Jupiter’s swirling cloud bands around its equatorial regions are the result of blue light images taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 beginning on Feb. 17.

New Horizons made its closest approach to Jupiter on Feb. 28 at 12:43 a.m. EST (0543 GMT), zooming past the planet at a distance of 1.4 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) while flying at 52,000 miles per hour (83,600 kph).

The probe is in the midst of a six-month flyby observation campaign at Jupiter as it heads towards a 2015 rendezvous with Pluto.

To aid that campaign, Hubble will continue to study Jupiter through about the next month.

• NASA Probe Spies Jupiter's Moons and Storms in Flyby
• VIDEO: Follow New Horizons on its Jupiter Flyby
• IMAGE MOVIE: View Jupiter’s 10-Hour Day as Seen by New Horizons
• Pluto-Bound Spacecraft to Nab Speed Boost in Jupiter Flyby
• VIDEO: Passport to Pluto
• IMAGES: Bound for Pluto
• IMAGES: The New Solar System
• Reaching for the Edge: Complete Coverage of New Horizon’s Pluto Mission
• All About Jupiter

-- Tariq Malik

Credit: NASA/ESA, and John Clarke (Boston University)