The biggest planet in our solar system by far, Jupiter is still very much unexplored, with so much more to learn about its swirling storms, and highly active gaseous surface.
A recent flyby from NASA’s Juno spacecraft shows us more details of the planet, its 66th trip around the celestial body.
While Juno’s onboard cameras can take images, NASA does not have a dedicated team to process these for public view. Instead, it relies on citizen scientists, who readily spend dozens of hours processing, stitching together, and sometimes enhancing these images.
Photo: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc © (CC BY 3.0)
The result are some truly beautiful, detailed photographs, showing the dozens of smaller swirling storms, as well as the massive red spot, an ancient storm which has been active for over 300 years.
It’s hard to imagine a giant storm on earth lasting 300 years. This type of perspective shows us how astounding our own solar system can be.
We’re grateful for the help of these citizen scientists, who utilize the raw images taken by NASA’s orbiter, and make sense of them for the rest of us.
See more on JunoCam’s website.
Photo: NASA / SwRI / MSSS © (CC BY 3.0)
Photo: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc © (CC BY 3.0)
Photo: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc © (CC BY 3.0)
Photo: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc © (CC BY 3.0)
Photo: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Thomas Thomopoulos © (CC BY 3.0)
Photo: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Thomas Thomopoulos © (CC BY 3.0)
NASA’s video showing Juno approaching Jupiter.
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