Rose-Colored Jupiter

Image credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Matt Brealey/Gustavo B C

This image captures a close-up view of a storm with bright cloud tops in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this color-enhanced image on Feb. 7 at 5:38 a.m. PST (8:38 a.m. EST) during its 11th close flyby of the gas giant planet. At the time, the spacecraft was 7,578 miles (12,195 kilometers) from the tops of Jupiter’s clouds at 49.2 degrees north latitude.

Source / Image Courtesy

 

Using imagery from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, animators have created a visualization of a flight into the massive Jovian storm. “The perspective begins about 2,000 miles (3,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops of the planet's southern hemisphere.” according to NASA. - The Great Red Spot is also red hot!

 

During its 10 July flyby, NASA's Juno spacecraft took images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. Measuring 16,350 kilometers (10,159 miles) in width, Jupiter's Great Red Spot is 1.3 times as wide as Earth. The storm has possibly existed for more than 350 years, but recently the Great Red Spot appears to be shrinking.

 

What Jupiter’s spot is not, is tranquil. New infrared images taken by Boston University scientists on a NASA telescope in Hawaii show that whereas Jupiter’s north and south poles are heated by strong magnetic fields, its large, stormy red spot generates its own heat by a different mechanism.

Shock waves from turbulent winds in the spot and other storms help explain how the planet's upper atmosphere stays warm so far from the sun.

 

Amazing pics, thank you for sharing