Orton leads the observing team for the
adaptive-optics imaging and Wong heads
the observing team for the thermal imaging.
Additional team members include Andrew
Stephens (Gemini Observatory); Thomas
Momary, James Sinclair (JPL); Kevin Ba-
ines (JPL, University of Wisconsin); Michael
Wong, Imke de Pater (University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley); Patrick Irwin (University of
Oxford); Leigh Fletcher (University of Leices-
ter); Gordon Bjoraker (NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center); and John Rogers (British As-
tronomical Association).
Figure 3.
At longer infrared
wavelengths, Jupiter
glows with thermal
(heat) emission. In
the dark areas of this
4.8-micron image,
thick clouds block the
emission from the
deeper atmosphere. The
Great Red Spot is visible
just below center. This
image, obtained with the
Gemini North telescope’s
Near-InfraRed Imager
(NIRI), was obtained on
January 11, 2017, so
the relative positions of
discrete features have
changed with respect to
the near-infrared image
in Figure 1.
Credit: Gemini
Observatory/AURA/NSF/
UC Berkeley
28
The NASA Juno spacecraft was launched in
August 2011 and began orbiting Jupiter in
early July 2016. A primary goal of the mis-
sion is to improve our understanding of Ju-
piter — from its atmospheric properties, to
our understanding of how Jupiter and other
planets in the outer Solar System formed.
Juno’s payload of nine instruments can
probe Jupiter’s atmospheric composition,
temperature, and cloud dynamics, as well as
the properties of the planet’s intense mag-
netic field and aurora.
Gemini’s near-infrared images are particu-
larly helpful to Juno’s Jupiter Infrared Au-
roral Mapper (JIRAM). JIRAM takes images
at 3.5 and 4.8 microns and moderate-reso-
lution spectra at 2 - 5 microns. The Gemini
images provide a high-resolution spatial
context for JIRAM’s spectroscopic observa-
tions and cover wavelengths and regions of
the planet not observed by JIRAM. They also
place an upper-atmospheric constraint on
Jupiter’s circulation in the deep atmosphere
determined by Juno’s Microwave Radiom-
eter (MWR) experiment.
GeminiFocus
In the full campaign of Earth-based support,
the Gemini observations provide a key ele-
ment that extends the spectral coverage of
other facilities, as well as providing a stra-
tegic sampling to compare with the lower-
resolution but more frequent imaging by
NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) that
tracks the evolution of atmospheric features.
These Gemini data are also a useful measure
of cloud properties to compare with mid-in-
frared thermal imaging and spectroscopy of
Jupiter’s atmosphere, such as that provided
by Subaru’s COMICS experiment. The space
platforms are involved in the Juno-support
campaign include the XMM, Chandra, and
NuSTAR X-ray observatories, and the Hitaki
ultraviolet observatory, together with the
Hubble Space Telescope. The many ground-
based observatories include the Very Large
Telescope (VLT), the Atacama Large Millime-
ter Array (ALMA), Calar Alto Observatory, and
a suite of visible and radio observatories. Full
details of the campaign can be found here.
Peter Michaud is the Public Information Out-
reach Manager of Gemini Observatory. He can
be reached at: [email protected]
January 2018 / 2017 Year in Review