The SHARK/VIS detection image of Io
An international team led by the University of Arizona recently acquired images of Jupiter's moon Io that were the highest-resolution pictures ever taken by a ground-based telescope. The images revealed surface features measuring just 80 km (50 mi) across, a spatial resolution previously reserved for spacecraft. This includes NASA's Juno mission, which has captured some of the most stunning images of Io's volcanoes. These images were made possible by the LBT's new SHARK-VIS instrument and the telescope's adaptive optics system.
The team was led by Al Conrad, an Associate Staff Scientist with the University of Arizona's Department of Astronomy, the Stewart Observatory, and the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (LBTO). He was joined by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, the California Institute of Technology, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Their paper, "Observation of Io's Resurfacing via Plume Deposition Using Ground-Based Adaptive Optics at Visible Wavelengths With LBT SHARK-VIS (GRL)," and the LBT images are set to be published in the Geophysical Research Letters.
© NASAThe Large Binocular Telescope, showing the two imaging mirrors.
Gianluca Li Causi, the data processing manager for SHARK-VIS at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, explained how it works in a recent University of Arizona News release:
"We process our data on the computer to remove any trace of the sensor's electronic footprint. We then select the best frames and combine them using a highly efficient software package called Kraken, developed by our colleagues Douglas Hope and Stuart Jefferies from Georgia State University. Kraken allows us to remove atmospheric effects, revealing Io in incredible sharpness."
© NASAJupiter moon Io, imaged by SHARK-VIS on Jan. 10, 2024.
© Kelvinsong/WikimediaAn artist's concept of the interior of Io.
Along with Europa and Ganymede, Io is locked in a 1:2:4 orbital resonance, where Europa makes two orbits for every orbit made by Ganymede, and Io makes four. Between its interaction with these moons and Jupiter's powerful gravity, Io's interior is constantly flexing, producing hot lava that erupts through the surface. While telescopes have taken infrared images that revealed hot spots caused by eruptions, they are not sharp enough to reveal surface details or identify the locations of the eruptions. By monitoring the eruptions on Io's surface, scientists hope to gain insights into the tidal heating mechanism responsible for Io's intense volcanism.
"Io, therefore, presents a unique opportunity to learn about the mighty eruptions that helped shape the surfaces of the Earth and the moon in their distant pasts," said Conrad. Studies like this one, he added, will help researchers understand why some planets have active volcanoes while others do not. For instance, while Venus is thought to still be volcanically active, Mars is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System but is inactive. These studies may also shed light on volcanic exoplanets someday, helping astronomers to identify geological activity on distant planets (a possible indication of habitability).
SHARK-VIS instrument scientist Simone Antoniucci anticipates that it will enable new observations of objects throughout the Solar System with similar sharpness, revealing all manner of features that would otherwise require spacecraft."The keen vision of SHARK-VIS is particularly suited to observing the surfaces of many solar system bodies, not only the moons of giant planets but also asteroids," he said. "We have already observed some of those, with the data currently being analyzed, and are planning to observe more."
Further Reading: University of Arizona
Reader Comments
drawingsartists' renderings from ourscience journalscomic books, so they're discounted and/or not even mentioned. For some of them, we don't even need telescopes pointed outward, we just need to see whatever it is in Antarctica that gets shown to "world leaders".For all we know, it may be that the extraterrestrials are microbes with microscopic sensory organs, who inhabit our very bodies and whom we call "cancer" cells.
From a European Conservative article of late last year; "... most Americans have this idea that if and when the aliens reveal themselves to us, it can only be a glorious, life-affirming event, like a Spielberg film ..." [Link]
We make our own heaven and hell; everything else is natural
You can't "freeze" these atmospheric distortions, they cause runtime differences and diffraction, i.e "warped images". Low-noise receptor cells are fine, but not the most impartant aspect The key is software and a feedback control system : "Adaptive optics" is a concept to measure (or estimate) atmospheric distortions, and bend one of the mirrors in the imaging system with attached actuators accordingly to correct for this differences. I was involved in investigations in such a system in the mid-90s, during my diploma project.
My point - again a "journalist" distorting everything almost beyond recognition. Because they have no education, and no real understanding of anything. As usual ...