By: Oasis Team
Photos: NASA, taken by the Juno spacecraft.
Visual wonders aren't limited to the surface of planet Earth. Going further afield, but still within the Solar System, we arrive at the gas giant Jupiter. The last peri-Jupiter approach by the Juno probe (the moment of closest orbital proximity to this planet) occurred on September 1st and allowed for the acquisition of photographs of rare beauty. Some of them can be seen in the gallery below.
Once every 53 days, the orbit of the Juno probe, launched in 2011 near Jupiter, reaches its closest point, above the outermost clouds of the giant planet. This phenomenon is called a flyby, and the last time this happened was on Friday, September 1th. Juno came within just 3.500 kilometers of the highest cloud layer covering Jupiter. The photos that Juno sent back are beautiful and surprising.
The absolute protagonists are the Jupiterian cloud bands, associated with squall phenomena and alternating with storms in the upper atmosphere. The latter appear in the images as large white patches.
The bands and different areas of Jupiter (respectively the darker and lighter horizontal bands in which the planet's cloud systems are organized) periodically change shades according to atmospheric composition and thickness.
Jupiter's clouds are composed predominantly of frozen crystals of ammonia, ammonia hydrosulfur compounds, and water.
This photo is part of a series whose great merit is to highlight and emphasize the atmospheric disturbances that surround the planet, which appears as a gigantic marble sphere.
The shadow of one of Jupiter's moons: it appears to be just a small smudge on the cloudy mantle of the gas giant.
An example of what can be achieved by working with photos in "raw" format (i.e., unprocessed images) taken by the JunoCam.
During these flybys, Juno is programmed to explore Jupiter's cloud cover to try to discover what lies beneath it, as well as to analyze the planet's auroras and its magnetosphere.
The eyes of hurricanes: two of Jupiter's Great Red Spots. In July 2017, Juno sent back close-up images of the Great Red Spot, a storm with a diameter of 16.350 kilometers that has been raging continuously on the planet for at least 350 years.
An almost dreamlike view of Jupiter's cloud systems. The giant's atmosphere is traversed by winds that can reach speeds of 600 kilometers per hour. These winds fuel storms like the one in the photo.
Analysis of data from the Juno probe has allowed the reconstruction, in recent months, of an image of Jupiter very different from what everyone expected. The giant's weather system is based on ammonia.
Detailed analysis of Jupiter's clouds has led to the hypothesis that hailstones may form within them, through a mechanism quite similar to that which occurs on the Earth's surface.
Some images of Jupiter's cyclones resemble photographs of terrestrial hurricanes seen from space. But the dimensions of Jupiter's weather systems are much larger than the most fearsome storms that occur on Earth.
The mission, which began in June, is scheduled to end in July 2018, after completing 12 flybys of the planet. This is a record of endurance, considering the radiation the probe has endured since being placed in orbit.
Starting in July 2018, the mission may be extended if the probe is still operational, as has already happened for other glorious achievements in space exploration.
The Imaginary Flight Around Jupiter
Created using time-lapse technology, the video below reproduces what would be a virtual flyby of the gas giant and its multiple atmospheric disturbances.
A group of 91 astronomers participated in the project, collecting over a thousand photographs, which were then arranged in sequence to simulate a flyby of Jupiter. Jupiter initially appears as a distant bright point; as it approaches, its rapidly rotating cloud bands, the Great Red Spot in full activity, and other smaller transient storms are visible.
Video: Approaching Jupiter
Video composition and copyright: Peter Rosen