This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this folio. Terms of use.

NASA'southward Juno probe spent years en route to the gas giant, and the primary ascertainment phase hasn't gone completely smoothly. The probe is in a longer orbit of Jupiter, pregnant it makes a close approach of the planet simply once every 53 days. Still, the images we're getting are really something. In a pair of recently released images, you tin can come across an unprecedented amount of detail in Jupiter'due south clouds, and they were both created by citizen scientists.

Juno arrived in orbit of the gas giant in summer 2022, some 5 years afterwards launch. Information technology began sending back stunning images and scientific data in early 2022. Notwithstanding, an engine error forced NASA to err on the side of caution and skip the maneuver that would have tightened Juno's orbit. We're waiting longer for new images, merely the probe won't exist pounded past radiation as much and citizen scientists have more time to process the raw data.

The newly released images actually come from NASA's citizen scientists. All the raw data from the JunoCam is posted on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory website for anyone to download and procedure into a terminal paradigm. Y'all can upload your creations, and NASA may cull to highlight the best ones as it has done here.

In the image on top, nosotros see Jupiter from a latitude of 27.9 degrees due south. The spacecraft was passing the planet at an altitude of 8,453 miles (13,604 kilometers). The original image information was captured by Juno on December 16th of last twelvemonth with a resolution of 5.half-dozen miles/pixel (9.1 kilometers/pixel). It offers an excellent view of the South Temperate Chugalug, the dark region on the far left. The epitome was processed past Kevin M. Gill.

In the second image above, citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt has used information from the same December 16th close pass of Jupiter. The image was taken from a much greater distance — 64,899 miles (104,446 kilometers) from the planet'southward cloud tops. Information technology was taken from a latitude of 83.nine degrees south, putting the probe almost exactly over the s pole. The resolution is lower at merely 43.vi miles/pixel (70.2 kilometers/pixel), but that's enough to see Jupiter's intricate cloud patterns.

A high-resolution version of the top paradigm is bachelor beneath. You tin also download JunoCam data if you want to try your hand at processing images of Jupiter. You'll take enough of opportunities, too, equally NASA expects Juno to operate in orbit of Jupiter for years to come up. Nosotros tin can't look for more.

Jupiter JUNO