NASA’s Juno spacecraft was designed to help us explore Jupiter and analyse the planet to assess how giant planets like it help with the formation of other planets.
It’s thought that by studying Jupiter scientists will be able to better understand how our solar system formed. Juno originally launched back in 2011 and arrived in Jupiter’s orbit several years later in the middle of 2016.
Since then it has been used to study all sorts of things from the planet’s gravitational fields to water and wind presence in the atmosphere. That data is being studied and analysed and has helped form new theories about the planet.
It has also resulted in some incredible images, not just of the planet itself but its surrounding moons too. We’ve collected some of the most interesting for you to enjoy.
Jupiter’s Auroras
It’s not just our home planet that features wonderful colourful views created by auroras. TheJames Webb Space Telescopehas captured some magnificent views of Jupiter using various filters to highlight the auroras on the north and south poles.
Also visible is the great red spot which appears bright white in this image.
Jupiter’s winds
NASA’s Juno spacecraft was designed to help us explore Jupiter and in doing so it has captured some seriously impressive images.
Jupiter is subject to some seriously impressive winds. Those winds are so strong they can be seen easily from space. The analysis also suggests that the winds are more than 1,800 miles deep and able to sheer conductive martial from the lower atmosphere and move it around the planet. This action then leads to changes in the planet’s magnetic field.
This image was captured at the start of 2021 and was taken 10,2200 miles from the top of the clouds present on the planet at the time.
Enhanced fly by
Juno’sorbit of Jupiteris surprisingly large and usually means it’s travelling at quite a distance. This is partly necessary due to the radiation from the planet but it also does give some interesting views when the spacecraft comes close to the planet.
This image from 2018 shows the view of the planet from 4,400 miles above the cloud tops. It’s been colour enhanced but shows the weird and wonderful makeup of the cloud-rich atmosphere as well as the anticyclonic storms taking place.
Jupiter and Io
This image is interesting for a number of reasons. It was taken by Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft and shows Jupiter’s moon IO appearing in front of the giant planet. That moon is roughly the same size as our own moon but appears tiny when backdropped by Jupiter. It’s a deception though as the moon is actually 217,000 miles from the planet in this image.
A vortex view
This image was taken in late 2019 during Juno’s 23rd close fly-by of Jupiter.
It shows a close and interesting look at a vortex range in the atmosphere. It is said that Jupiter’s atmosphere is made up of many persistent areas of cloud and this vortex is one of them.
It’s approximately 1,200 miles wide and though the clouds are mostly made from hydrogen and helium the colours are often changed by other gases from below.
Deep cloud motion
Jupiter is fascinating for a number of reasons. Not least of which is the fact that the planet has no solid surface like our own home planet. Instead, it’s a stormy and chaotic mess.
This image from Juno’s 24th fly-by shows a particularly stormy area of the planet. With winds running deeper and lasting far longer than those on Earth.
At a glance you might be forgiven for thinking that this photo is of our own moon, but it is in fact a shot of Ganymede.
Ganymede is one of Jupiter’s 79 moons. An icy moon with a pockmarked surface.
Juno took the images of Ganymede on a close flyby at just 645 miles from the surface. The image you’re seeing here is actually the result of a composition of several images stitched together. That’s because Juno’s imager took “strips” of images as it passed by. This is why you can see stitching in the bottom right.
Clyde’s Spot
This is not only an impressive image of Jupiter but also a point of interest to researchers.
It’s known as “Clyde’s spot” after amateur astronomer Clyde Foster who discovered it.
Initially, the pattern seen here was thought to be a plume of materials erupting through the atmosphere from below.
But where most of Jupiter’s atmospheric features are subject to regular change due to the aggressive climate, this area stayed in position but changed shape, developing a more complex structure over the next year.
Cloudy fluids
Jupiter’s surface often looks fluid-like in its make-up. This image resembles coffee in our mind, an angry coffee perhaps, but an interesting one.
What you’re seeing is actually impressive cloud formations that are as deep as 1,900 miles. These high rise cloud formations create fascinating patterns in the atmosphere for our viewing pleasure.
Some of the areas of the atmosphere of Jupiter certainly show an intriguing vision of the giant planet.
This one taken in May 2019 shows an area within a Jovian jet stream which appears to show a vortex with an incredibly dark center. This area looks like a black hole with swirling masses around it.
