. 24/7 Space News .
A Look From LEISA

-
by Staff Writers
Baltimore MD (SPX) Mar 20, 2007
On February 24, 2007, the LEISA (pronounced "Leesa") infrared spectral imager in the New Horizons Ralph instrument observed giant Jupiter in 250 narrow spectral channels. At the time the spacecraft was 6 million kilometers (nearly 4 million miles) from Jupiter; at that range, the LEISA imager can resolve structures about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across.

That may seem large, mission scientists say, but Jupiter itself is more than 144,000 kilometers (89,000 miles) across. "The detail revealed in these images is simply stunning," says Dr. Dennis Reuter, Ralph/LEISA project scientist and a New Horizons co-investigator from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Our instrument is performing spectacularly well."

LEISA observes in 250 infrared wavelengths, which range from 1.25 micrometers to 2.50 micrometers. The three images shown above from that dataset are at wavelengths of 1.27 micrometers (left), 1.53 micrometers (center) and 1.88 micrometers (right).

The bright areas in the image frames are caused by solar radiation reflected from clouds and hazes in Jupiter's atmosphere. Dark areas correspond to atmospheric regions where solar radiation is absorbed before it can be reflected. The dark circular feature in the upper left of all three images is the shadow of Jupiter's innermost large moon, Io.

Light at 1.53 nm (center frame) comes from relatively high in the atmosphere. The other two channels probe deeper atmospheric levels. Features that are bright in all three pictures come from high-altitude clouds. Features that are bright in the 1.27 and 1.88 nm channels, but darker in the 1.53-nm channel come from lower clouds. For example, there is an isolated circular feature (the "Little Red Spot") in the lower left of the 1.53-nm image.

In the 1.27 and 1.88 nm data, this circular feature is surrounded by other structures. The implication is that the "Little Red Spot" is caused by a system that extends far up into the atmosphere, while other structures are lower.

"The three frames shown here are just a sampling of what LEISA returned in this dataset," says Dr. Don Jennings, LEISA principal investigator and a New Horizons co-investigator from NASA Goddard. "Combining data from all 250 channels will allow us to make detailed three-dimensional maps of the composition and circulation of the Jovian atmosphere."

At closest approach to Jupiter on February 28, at a distance of about 2.5 million kilometers (1.4 million miles), LEISA's resolution was about three times better than it was on February 24. LEISA images made at that far-better resolution are still stored in the spacecraft's data recorder, awaiting downlink from New Horizons.

Email This Article

Related Links
New Horizons
Lost Among A Million Outer Planets



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Smash And Grab On The Edge Of Sol Billions Of Year Ago
Pasadena CA (SPX) Mar 15, 2007
In the outer reaches of the solar system, there is an object known as 2003 EL61 that looks like and spins like a football being drop-kicked over the proverbial goalpost of life.







  • US-Russian Space Tensions Increase
  • Kirkland Travel Agency Owner Selected As Space Agent
  • NASA And Houston Technology Center Sign Space Act Agreement
  • Putting Out The Trash In Space

  • Express Logic Plays Key Role In Managing MRO Data From Red Planet
  • Opportunity Conducts Imaging And Diagnostics
  • Mars Express Radar Gauges Water Quantity Around Martian South Pole
  • NASA Mars Rover Churns Up Questions With Sulfur-Rich Soil

  • Next Ariane 5 Takes Shape
  • Canadian Satellite Given Final Checks At Russian Launch Pad
  • Official Opening Of The Soyuz Launch Base Construction Site In French Guiana
  • First Ariane 5 Launch Of 2007 Finally Gets Away

  • Global Sunscreen Has Likely Thinned
  • Airborne Science In The Classroom The Next-Best Thing To Being There
  • A Cold-Water Monster Current Off Sydney
  • CryoSat-2 On The Road To Recovery

  • A Look From LEISA
  • Smash And Grab On The Edge Of Sol Billions Of Year Ago
  • Jupiter Play Back Begins As Downlink Initiated From New Horizons
  • The Tip of the Iceberg

  • Most Energetic Form Of Light Can Be Produced In Areas Dominated By Bright Young Stars
  • The Magnetic Fields of Planets and Stars
  • Fundamental Property Of Galaxy Evolution Discovered At Observatory
  • Science Team Shows Light Is Made Of Particles And Waves

  • China Bans Firm From Selling Land On The Moon
  • What Lies Beneath
  • China May Launch First Lunar Probe Satellite In September
  • Shooting Marbles At Four Miles A Second

  • Trimble Introduces Mini GPS Clock for Precise Timing
  • GPS Sneakers Soon To Hit Retail Stores
  • Trimble's Tiny Surface Mount GPS Receiver Adds WAAS And EGNOS Capability
  • Galileo Development Stalled Over Profitability Questions

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement