The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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In this mosaic, infrared images taken at a wavelength of 5 micrometres (in red) are overlaid on ultraviolet images, taken at 0.365 micrometres.
The bright areas in the infrared images represent the temperatures at the cloud tops (dark regions denote lower temperatures). The oval feature that stands out in these images is the giant eye of a hurricane, or the polar vortex, at the planet’s south pole. Its centre is displaced from the south pole and the structure measures about 2000 km across, rotating around the pole in about 2.5 days. The atmosphere rotates anticlockwise in the figure.