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The trick is adaptive optics, which uses deformable mirrors (and sometimes lasers) to reduce blur to images caused by the presence of the atmosphere. Learn more about the operation of a similar system here.
Titan
Saturn's mission of our faithful explorer Cassini lasted more than a decade and sent back incredible images and data. Although it was deliberately crushed on the surface of Saturn last September, its data still alter our vision of the solar system.
These images of Titan moon Saturn were taken in the infrared. Cassini has collected images of the satellite for 13 years, and all this data has now been converted to these stunning views. According to a NASA press release, these images "represent some of the clearest and most transparent views of the surface of the icy moon produced up to here."
Jupiter's Clouds
On July 15, the Juno spacecraft, currently in orbit around Jupiter, flew over the planet, capturing this amazing image of high-altitude clouds forming in the north-north temperate belt of the planet (yes, two Norths) just below the polar region of Jupiter
gives us incredible images of our largest planet. If you can not wait more, and want more pictures of Jupiter, take a look at our Jovian riddle game.
Pluto's True Colors
Some pretty astonishing images of Pluto impressed the world when they were released in 2015. But New Horizons – the spaceship that took the pictures – had cameras that could see well beyond the spectrum of available light. for us, mere humans. The result was beautiful pictures, but not images that matched what we would see if we managed to fly all the way and look at Pluto with our own eyes. This new image corrects this, and gives us a glimpse of what Pluto might look like without false color alterations.
Click here to see the moon of Pluto Charon in true colors. If you want to know more about the process, see this Twitter thread of world astronomer Alex Parker – who has been processing the photos – for more details on how he adjusted the colors to match what our eyes are able to see.
New volcano on Io
Bonus Image! It's not as clear and gorgeous as the pictures above, but this red image of Jupiter's moon Io also made the news this week. Io is the most active volcanic body in the solar system, spewing lava in quantities so vast and impressive that the eruptive peaks of the Earth seem positively puny.
This week, researchers announced that they had identified a new potential volcano on the moon, using infrared data collected last December by the Juno spacecraft.
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