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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Three years of imaging observations using the international Gemini Observatory, a program of NSF's NOIRLab, have probed deep into Jupiter's cloud tops. The ultra-sharp Gemini infrared images complement optical and ultraviolet observations by Hubble and radio observations by the Juno spacecraft to reveal new secrets about the giant planet.
"The Gemini data were critical because they allowed us to probe deeply into Jupiter's clouds on a regular schedule," said Michael Wong of UC Berkeley. "We used a very powerful technique called lucky imaging," adds Wong. With lucky imaging, a large number of very short exposure images are obtained and only the sharpest images, when the Earth's atmosphere is briefly stable, are used. The result in this case is some of the sharpest infrared images of Jupiter ever obtained from the ground. According to Wong, "These images rival the view from space."
Gemini North's Near Infrared Imager (NIRI) allows astronomers to peer deep into Jupiter's mighty storms, since the longer wavelength infrared light can pass through the thin haze but is obscured by thicker clouds high in Jupiter's atmosphere. This creates a "jack-o-lantern"-like effect in the images where the warm, deep layers of Jupiter's atmosphere glow through gaps in the planet's thick cloud cover.
The detailed, multiwavelength imaging of Jupiter by Gemini [and] Hubble has, over the past three years, proven crucial to contextualizing the observations by the Juno orbiter, and to understanding Jupiter's wind patterns, atmospheric waves, and cyclones. The two telescopes, together with Juno, can observe Jupiter's atmosphere as a system of winds, gases, heat, and weather phenomena, providing coverage and insight not unlike the network of weather satellites meteorologists use to observe Earth.
On each of its close passes over Jupiter's clouds, Juno detected radio signals created by powerful lightning flashes called sferics (short for atmospherics) and whistlers (so-called because of the whistle-like tone they cause on radio receivers). Whenever possible, Gemini and Hubble focused on Jupiter and obtained high-resolution, wide-area maps of the giant planet.
Juno's instruments could determine the latitude and longitude coordinates of clusters of sferic and whistler signals. With Gemini and Hubble images at multiple wavelengths, researchers now can probe the cloud structure at these locations. By combining these three pieces of information the research team found that the lightning strikes, and some of the largest storm systems that create them, are formed in and around large convective cells over deep clouds of water ice and liquid.
Journal Reference:
Michael H. Wong et al. "High-resolution UV/Optical/IR Imaging of Jupiter in 2016–2019", The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (2020). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/ab775f
Also at Innovations Report.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 09 2020, @07:38AM
No mention of the fact that Gemini North is located atop the Hawaiian mountain of Mauna Kea? Did Aquaman get here first, and demand an erasure?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 09 2020, @09:14AM (2 children)
When is a frog a dog?
Why do you keep snorting coke
It makes you limp and the ladies laugh
I don't know why I like to snort
It's my stimulant warrior fort
I don't know why I like to snort
I laugh at the judge in the kangaroo court
Have you ever stepped into a beam of light
Or have one blind you so terribly
The creatures are easily defeated
I don't know why I like to snort
Cocaine is a hell of a drug, they say
Slipping away in a sewer
The ultimate freedom and horror
Horror
Horror
Horror
The chickens are mine.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by gmby on Saturday May 09 2020, @09:29AM
I'll raise your frog...
with one gypsy qween...
Lightning smokes on the hillrise
Brought the man with the warning light
Shouting loud you had better fly
While the darkness can help you hide
Trouble's comin' without control
No one's stayin' that's got a hope
Hurricane at the very least
In the words of the gypsy queen
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Get my saddle and tie it on
Western wind who is fast and strong
Jump on back, he's good and long
We'll resist till we reach the dawn
Running seems like the best offense
Staying just don't make any sense
No one could ever stop it now
Show the cards of the gypsy town
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Shadows movin' without a sound
From the hold of the sleepless town
Evil seems to be everywhere
Heed the spirit that brought despair
Trouble's comin' without control
No one's stayin' that's got a hope
Hurricane at the very least
In the words of the gypsy queen
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Sign of the gypsy queen
Pack your things and leave
Word of a woman who knows
Take all your gold and you go
Bye
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 09 2020, @09:42AM
Rungs To Riches
I spun the wheel and placed it all on black
The wheel began to transform into a wheel of fire
A squirrel was tap dancing around the flames
I could not go back to that Casino
I could not go back to that Casino
Donkeys are sometimes said to fly like pigs
Well then I raise you one chicken and two dead gophers
I could not go back to that Casino
It was bloodier than a movie by Tarintino.
Ducks and chickens ripping each other apart with razor feet
Lady luck wasn't there for the players in the game but for the game itself
I felt myself growing rather dizzy
I could not go back to that Casino
My anus is fortified by a labia covering
Feed me to the vultures when I go
I don't want to be the last to crow
Squeezing of breasts everywhere
(Score: 2) by Kitsune008 on Saturday May 09 2020, @07:27PM
'...takes a deep dive into Jupiter's clouds'
Really?
Let us fix this abomination.
"The Gemini North Telescope(also known as the High Jump Scope), just engaged it's super-secret Atomic Flea Drive and jumped all the way from it's usual parking spot on a mountain top in Hawaii, to Jupiter's atmosphere. There it engaged it's Lucky Camera to dive into the clouds. In the clouds, the Lucky Camera lived up to it's name, and Gemini North caught a jack-o-lantern, which surprised all, as pumpkins were thought to be extinct in Jupiter's Clouds.
As usual, the British judges only gave it a mediocre score of 6 for the dive, whilst other judges scored in the 8-9 point range."
There, that's better. Now TFS matches up with the headline much better.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 09 2020, @07:52PM
From the article...
BEGIN
"We used a very powerful technique called lucky imaging," adds Wong. With lucky imaging, a large number of very short exposure images are obtained and only the sharpest images, when the Earth's atmosphere is briefly stable, are used.
END
Jeez, did astronomers just discover that if you take a bunch of snaps, you might end up with a keeper? Non-Phds around the world claim prior art on this "powerful imaging trchnique."