Jupiter captured in all its glory by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and the public [photos]
A beautiful, giant marble.
NASA’s Juno Probe gifted us with spectacular footage of Jupiter and its most iconic feature, its great red spot. During the probe’s eighth flyby of Jupiter, the spacecraft captured the planet in all its glory, revealing some of the storms swirling around on this giant gas planet.
As if the detailed images weren’t incredible enough, the space agency also shared the raw files with the public, giving them the chance to process the images themselves.
New #JunoCam raw images from my latest #Jupiter flyby are available now. Download, process + share https://t.co/ijHwy72xXp #citizenscience pic.twitter.com/4reh3PJ7nG
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) September 5, 2017
According to Science Alert, the Juno probe was launched in 2011 and entered Jupiter’s orbit in July last year, with the aim of studying the gas giant’s mysterious magnetic field, gravity, and polar magnetosphere.
The probe makes a close flyby every 53 days in order to gather data and take images.
In 2016, two flybys revealed giant cyclones, a super powerful magnetic field, and strange northern lights that behave totally different to our own.
The most recent raw images of the flyby – Perijove 8 – were released on 5 September 2017, and reveals the planet’s clear bands of clouds and storms swirling across. Thanks to members of the public, the images look spectacular, surreal, and maybe a bit scary:
