Astronomers have captured an incredible photograph of Jupiter taken in infrared, revealing a 'jack-o-lantern' appearance. The image highlights the viscous storms that dominate the gas giant's thick atmosphere.
Three years' worth of 'lucky images' taken from the Gemini North telescope on Hawaii's dormant volcano Mauna Kea formed this mosaic, together with data and photos from Juno and Hubble to produce one of the highest resolution images of Jupiter ever taken from Earth.
The bright areas seen on the image are those without clouds, while dark patched regions are where no infrared radiation can be seen because of the dense cloud cover. It also revealed lightning storms on Jupiter that are produced by 'convective cells' that create vast plumes of moist air and form above deep clouds of liquid and frozen water.
Lucky Imaging Technique
The astronomers who took the photo used the technique 'lucky imaging' to create the stunning new image of the gas giant. It involves taking hundreds of pictures and only using one that is clearest and minimally affected by the atmosphere of Earth.
The images show the warm, deep layers of Jupiter's atmosphere glowing through gaps of thick cloud cover that forms a jack-o-lantern effect. Lightning strikes and storm systems forming around deep clouds of water ice and liquid are also seen from the image.
Astronomers carefully selected the images included in the mosaic to highlight each region of Jupiter at its most violent. For example, each region is photographed hundreds of times until they capture where the surface is most turbulent before making it to the final stage.
After taking hundreds of photos, they discard those images that did not pass and only use the sharpest images. The latest observations provide some of the clearest infrared images of the gas giant, which rivals the view from space, according to Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley.
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Gemini North's Near Infrared Imager
The images captured were from the observations made from Gemini, which is located in Hawaii far away from as much light as possible. It takes infrared measurements using an equipment known as https://www.history.com/news/history-of-the-jack-o-lantern-irish-origins (NIR).
Infrared waves or infrared light is a wavelength that are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. William Herschel discovered infrared in 1800 when he noticed an even warmer temperature beyond the red end of the spectrum while measuring the difference in temperature of the colors in the visible spectrum.
Since visible lights have a shorter wavelength, it cannot escape the cloaking cloud of Jupiter. Infrared light is emitted by the gas giant, which escapes from its dense clouds and allows astronomers to gaze deeper into the planet more than what is possible with the naked eye or any telescope.
A study led by the University of California at Berkeley used infrared to understand the weather patterns and storms of Jupiter since infrared can be very useful in tracking the movements in its atmosphere.
Astronomers combined images by Gemini with visible light images from Juno, and Hubble. Juno provided detailed information on the location of the lightning flashes called sferics or whistlers in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates.
It is now the job of Gemini to assess this region in infrared light while Hubble did the same with the visible light.
Wong explained that scientists track lighting because it is a marker of convection that transports Jupiter's internal heat up to the visible clouds. Additional studies of lightning sources will help experts understand how convection on Jupiter differs from or is similar to convections on Earth's atmosphere.