Stunning, high-res photos of Jupiter find holes in the Great Red Spot

Jupiter, who rules our solar system like Winston the Continental in John Wick, Is famous for the tremendous superstorm swirled in its gaseous atmosphere known as the Great Red Spot. Centuries of observation have revealed little detail about the gas giant’s pox scar, but thanks to the work of two telescopes and the enterprising Jovian spacecraft Juno, astronomers have been able to peer into the red spot with unprecedented clarity and reveal some of its inner functions.

A study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series in Aprilused images of the Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini Observatory, and Juno observations over a three-year period to examine the Great Red Spot, the largest solar system storm, in ultraviolet and infrared light.

“We want to know how Jupiter’s atmosphere works,” said Michael Wong, an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley and first author of the paper. in a press release. “This is where Juno, Hubble and Gemini’s teamwork comes into play.”

The Gemini Observatory in Hawaii was able to acquire some of the highest resolution infrared images from a ground-based telescope using a technique known as “lucky imaging”. Images from ground-based telescopes can sometimes be out of focus due to atmospheric effects, but happy images can capture brief moments when these effects are minimal. The end result is images with clarity that can keep up with the performance of telescopes in space.

The unprecedented analysis shows that the stain, which is visible as a swirl of color on Jupiter’s face, looks “like a pumpkin lantern” in infrared light. to Wong. Thick clouds cover most of the planet’s surface, so infrared light from the heat generated deep inside Jupiter cannot always escape. Hubbles and Junos imagers cannot “see” as far into the planet as Gemini, so the ground-based telescope was crucial to understanding what was lurking in the Great Red Spot.

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Hubble has mapped the region many times and noticed a dark band – a black surge against the deep red tones of the storm. The astronomers were not sure what exactly this black band represented. With Gemini in a nutshell, the researchers were able to confirm that these are not different types of clouds, but holes. This is where the term pumpkin lantern comes from.

Gaps in the immense storm let bright infrared light shine over the solar system. Thanks to the huge telescope eyes at Gemini, we could see them.

“These coordinated observations once again demonstrate that groundbreaking astronomy is made possible by combining the capabilities of the Gemini telescope with free ground and space-based facilities,” said Martin Still, program director of astronomy at the National Science Foundation, which funds the operation of the twins .