{"id":14018,"date":"2018-01-31T00:01:59","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T16:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/junos-latest-imagery-from-jupiter\/"},"modified":"2018-01-31T00:01:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T16:01:59","slug":"junos-latest-imagery-from-jupiter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/junos-latest-imagery-from-jupiter\/","title":{"rendered":"Juno\u2019s latest imagery from Jupiter"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This image of Jupiter\u2019s swirling south polar region was captured by NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft as it neared completion of its tenth close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 16, 2017. Citizen scientist Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SWRI\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, now on its 11th orbit around Jupiter, continues to return jaw-dropping views of the solar systems\u2019s biggest planet from previously-unseen up-close perspectives of its colorful clouds and raging storms.<\/p>\n

While Juno\u2019s scientific sensors map Jupiter\u2019s radiation belts, measure its magnetic field and peer deep inside the gas giant\u2019s atmosphere, a camera aboard the solar-powered probe beams back colorful imagery of the planet\u2019s complex weather patterns.<\/p>\n

Once each orbit, Juno closes in on Jupiter for a high-speed flyby as close as 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) from the planet\u2019s cloud tops, closer than any past space mission has come to the giant planet. Juno is also the first orbiter to get direct views of Jupiter\u2019s poles.<\/p>\n

Juno\u2019s imaging camera, known as JunoCam, continued taking spectacular pictures during the probe\u2019s most recent close-up encounter with Jupiter on Dec. 16.<\/p>\n

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Jupiter\u2019s northern polar belt region dominates this new view taken by NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft on Dec. 16, 2017, and processed by citizen scientist Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JunoCam\u2019s raw imagery data is downlinked back to Earth for scientists, artists and members of the public to examine, process and render into colorful pictures, revealing textures and shades of Jupiter that have been hidden from view until now.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s primarily an outreach tool to inspire everyday citizens with the wonders of the cosmos, but JunoCam also provides useful scientific context for researchers crunching data coming from the spacecraft\u2019s other instruments.<\/p>\n

Jupiter is so big that 11 Earth diameters could fit inside the planet\u2019s disk, and Jupiter\u2019s immense gravity pulls Juno to a speed of 129,000 mph (nearly 58 kilometers per second) on each close approach, a point in the craft\u2019s 53-day orbit that scientists call \u201cperijove.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since its arrival in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016, the Juno spacecraft has revealed insights about the planet\u2019s atmospheric structure, including activity hidden beneath the famous Great Red Spot, an anticyclone that measures 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) across, 1.3 times the width of Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cJuno found that the Great Red Spot\u2019s roots go 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth\u2019s oceans and are warmer at the base than they are at the top,\u201d said Andy Ingersoll, professor of planetary science at Caltech and a Juno co-investigator, in a press release announcing the latest findings in December. \u201cWinds are associated with differences in temperature, and the warmth of the spot\u2019s base explains the ferocious winds we see at the top of the atmosphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Colorful swirling cloud belts dominate Jupiter\u2019s southern hemisphere in this image captured by NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft on Dec. 16, 2017, and analyzed by citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SWRI\/MSSS\/Kevin M. Gill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Juno is heading for its next science pass over Jupiter\u2019s cloud tops Feb. 7.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft\u2019s primary survey of Jupiter will end in July with the completion of its 14th perijove since arrival. That encounter will be the 12th close-up flyby the probe will conduct in full science mode.<\/p>\n

Scientists plan to propose extending Juno\u2019s mission at Jupiter beyond July, and NASA will formally decide in the coming months whether to approve additional funding to continue operating the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This image of Jupiter\u2019s swirling south polar region was captured by NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft as it neared completion of its tenth close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 16, 2017. Citizen scientist Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt processed this image using data from the JunoCam imager. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SWRI\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, now on its 11th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1929,1606,472,2020,1561,1563,2612],"class_list":["post-14018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-juno","tag-jupiter","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-new-frontiers","tag-planetary-science","tag-solar-system","tag-swri"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}