In what amounts to the closest you ’ll ever come to see a risqué image of Jupiter , researchers from theEuropean Southern Observatory(ESO ) have produced a brand novel infrared mental image of the natural gas behemoth , which beautifully depicts its swirling clouds in an totally different lightness .
Juno , thesolar - powered spacecraftthat ’s been edging closer to Jupiter since 2011 , is due to record its ambit next hebdomad and send what is sure to be a smorgasbord of unbelievable imagery and information back to Earth . In the interim , though – as evidenced by this spectacular picture of the illustrious horizontal circle blotch across theJovian standard atmosphere – astronomers are keen to get detailed images of these eddy clouds , and this one was obtained by ESO ’s ground - basedVery Large Telescope(VLT ) .
This image is just one of many that will be used to make a dependable 3D atmospheric atlas of Jupiter – a world first . In fact , by the time Juno get in in July of this year , these current images will likely look very dissimilar from the ones that Juno will capture . This will allow astronomers to compare and contrast the two data sets , which will give away how quick Jupiter ’s atmosphere modify over time .
“ These maps will help set the tantrum for what Juno will witness in the fare calendar month , ” chair researcher Leigh Fletcher , an expert at the University of Leicester in the outside sensing of giant major planet organisation , said in astatement . “ notice at unlike wavelengths across the infrared spectrum let us to piece together a three - dimensional picture of how vitality and material are send upwards through the standard pressure . ”
This image is actually a composite plant of a far larger issue of single picture drive by the VLT . In a technique know as “ golden imaging , ” thousands of freestanding frames were taken at short picture , and those that were least affected by the turbulence of our own atmosphere were pluck and stitched together .
Wonderfully , the ESO team note in their press release that “ the Juno space vehicle was named after the mythological married woman of the god Jupiter , ” adding that , “ just like his planetary opposite number , Jupiter veiled himself in clouds to hide his rascality , and only Juno was capable to peer through them to see his true nature . ”
You ’ve get down to love a niggling bit of bonus etymology .
Image in schoolbook : Comparison of VLT ’s infrared ( VISIR ) imaging and visible idle imagination of Jupiter ’s atmosphere . ESO
