Hypnotizing Chaos: Juno Takes A New Picture Of Jupiter

You haven’t seen such a planet yet.

The Juno spacecraft for the 26th time during its mission approached a point in the orbit of Jupiter closest to the center of the planet and took a new picture of the gas giant from a height of 4,200 meters.

The JunoCam tool was used for shooting: it can take photographs that reveal the magnificent details of the swirling, turbulent clouds of Jupiter.

The image was processed by NASA software engineer Kevin Gill and space enthusiast Michael Galanin. The image shows the region of the planet in the north, where strong storms rage, as a result of which the clouds acquire a florid shape under the influence of the constant winds of Jupiter.

Such regions can be found both in the northern and southern parts of the planet, starting from mid-latitudes and to the zone of circumpolar atmospheric vortices, and they often represent vast chaotic regions. The rotation characteristic of these cyclones can only sometimes be seen in some substructures; these vortices are only partially closed, “firing” narrow turbulent jets into adjacent flows.

Although we knew about these regions from photographs of Voyager, Cassini, and the Hubble Space Telescope, Juno took the clearest and most detailed pictures of these clouds, allowing scientists to better understand their structure . So, the researchers found that the storms on Jupiter can extend 3,000 kilometers below the cloudy peaks.

The Juno mission is nearing its end, and less than 10 such close approaches to Jupiter are planned. If the mission is not extended, then on July 30, 2021, Juno will make its last close approach, and then, like Cassini before it, it will jump deep into the clouds of Jupiter, transmitting data for as long as possible.

Source: Nat-Geo