Juno Gets Close Look at Jupiter’s Turbulent Clouds

NASA has released new images taken by the Juno probe of Jupiter, featuring giant storms and swirling clouds in the gas giant’s atmosphere.

This image of Jupiter was taken on February 12, 2019, as Juno performed its 18th close flyby of the planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill.

Juno launched in August 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and arrived in orbit around Jupiter in July 2016.

The robotic spacecraft is in a polar orbit around the gas giant, and the majority of each orbit is spent well away from the planet.

But, once every 53 days, Juno’s trajectory approaches Jupiter from above its north pole, where it begins a 2-hr transit — from pole to pole — flying north to south.

This image of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and surrounding turbulent zones was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill.

During these flybys, the orbiter is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of the giant planet and studying its auroras to learn more about its origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

On February 12, 2019, Juno successfully performed its 18th flyby of over Jupiter’s mysterious cloud tops.

All of the probe’s science instruments and its JunoCam, a visible-light camera designed to capture remarkable pictures of Jupiter, were operating during the flyby to collect data.

This new image from Juno shows swirling clouds in a jet stream region called Jet N6. The image was taken at 12:20 p.m. EST (9:20 a.m. PST) on February 12, 2019, as the spacecraft performed its 18th close flyby of the gas giant. At the time, Juno was about 8,000 miles (13,000 km) from the planet’s cloud tops, above a latitude of approximately 55 degrees north. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill.

One of the new images shows swirling clouds that surround a circular feature within a jet stream region called ‘Jet N6.’

The other photos show Jupiter’s most distinctive feature — the Great Red Spot, a spinning, cyclone-like storm just south of the gas giant’s equator.