The three images captured show the wavelengths of Jupiter's infrared, visible and ultraviolet light and will hopefully provide data to researchers for further study. The photos were posted on Universal-Sci's Twitter and you can see them below.
Stunning new images of Jupiter from Gemini North and the Hubble Space Telescope showcase the planet at infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths of light.
(Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / NASA / ESA, MH Wong and I. de Pater (UC Berkeley) et al.) pic.twitter.com/DDHyIfY1kD
- Universal-Sci (@universal_sci) May 12, 2021
In addition to the Hubble telescope, University of California researchers Mike Wong and his team were able to to use data previously captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft to merge the images.
"Previous data from NASA's space probe had shown that regions with active convection, marked by lightning activity, contained both massive convective plumes and clouds so deep that they had to be formed by condensed water", writes Wong in a blog post on NSF's NOIRLab website. “Gemini revealed that these active regions are also made up of infrared bright spots, where turbulent downward currents create clearings in the cloud bridges. The data from Juno, Gemini and Hubble were then combined to map the cloud structure of stormy convection regions in three dimensions, in particular the different types of cyclonic vortices ”.
Wong and his team have already been able to make some observations from the images. In particular, Wong says the team has noticed some gaps within the planet's Great Red Spot, a persistent storm that is larger than planet Earth.
"A close example of this phenomenon are the eddies in the ocean," says the researcher. “As the storm clouds spin, small anomalies can occur that form streaks. And that's the kind of shape we see in these holes. So it's probably just a faint turbulence, but as it turns, it gets longer. “