Thanks to the work done by a group of space and ground telescopes, NASA and the European Space Agency were able to obtain surprising images of Jupiter detailing the characteristics of the atmosphere such as the Great Red Spot, giant storms and giant hurricanes that extend. NSF’s NOIRLab Research Center announced this week.
In 2017, three photos were taken simultaneously showing the infrared, visible and ultraviolet gas giant. Visible light and ultraviolet rays were captured by the Hubble Space Telescope camera, while the infrared was captured by the Gemini North Telescope located in Hawaii.
Observing astronomical objects at different wavelengths allows scientists to obtain information that would otherwise not be available, and it is not surprising that Jupiter looks very different in the three images. However, the researchers noticed something more interesting when they looked at the planet’s Great Red Spot, the famous system of continuous storms large enough to swallow the entire Earth.
They found that the large speck is a feature that stands out in visible and UVB footage, but becomes nearly invisible at infrared wavelengths. On the contrary, the domains of the Jupiter’s cloud, rotating in the opposite direction, are clearly visible in all three displays.
Scientist Mike Wong likened these voids within the Great Red Spot to “vortices in the ocean.” As thunderclouds rotate, you can get small anomalies of these striped swirls simply by folding them. And this is how we see these holes. So there is probably a weak perturbation, but when you turn it around it stretches. “
Another smaller storm system called Red Spot Jr. It can also be observed in ordinary light and ultraviolet rays. In the image with visible wavelength, it can be seen that it has a clearly defined red outline with a white center, but it completely disappears in the infrared view.
In addition to providing a stunning panoramic tour of the mind for Jupiter, these observations provide valuable information about the planet’s atmosphere, as each wavelength explores different layers of clouds and fog particles, the researchers say.
More Stories
The final moments of the “Halloween Comet” were captured by the SOHO spacecraft
University of Michigan scientists have discovered what’s inside a black hole
NASA shares the scariest images of the sun in the lead-up to Halloween