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| Artist's impression of Jupiter's Clouds |
Roll up, roll up, because
it’s time for some more fantastic images from Jupiter! Boy, do we spoil you. Yes,
the latest batch of processed images from the Juno spacecraft are in and, as
usual, they’re splendidly fantastic. We’re treated to glorious swirling storms,
amazing vistas of the planet, and more.
These images were taken
during the Juno’s 13th science flyby of the gas giant. The spacecraft orbits the
gas giant about every 54 days, going out to a few million kilometers before the swooping
down over the poles of the planet at a distance of a few thousand kilometers.
Juno snaps images with its
JunoCam instrument, which gives us detailed glimpses of the planet in visible
light. It can take images with a resolution of about 15 kilometers per pixel,
with the data stored in raw images before being sent back to Earth for
processing.
This is mostly done by
citizen scientists, who post their images on the JunoCam website. You can get
involved too, and even suggest points of interest that you want the camera to
look at.
NASA noted that this pass
was “very challenging,” as Jupiter only entered JunoCam’s field of view just an
hour before closest approach. There was an opportunity to snap a distant image
of the volcanic moon Io on this pass, but that view has not yet been
released.
Juno’s primary mission
around Jupiter is scheduled to end this July, after the spacecraft has
performed some rather amazing science at Jupiter. The mission could be extended
for several years though, if budgets permit.
For now, we’ll just have to
make do with the latest and greatest snaps. Let’s take a look! One of them even
appears to have an aurora hidden in it, see if you can spot which one...
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