A Face in the Clouds of Jupiter from Juno
Explanation:
What do you see in the clouds of Jupiter?
On the largest scale, circling the planet,
Jupiter
has alternating
light zones and reddish-brown belts.
Rising zone gas,
mostly hydrogen and helium, usually swirls around regions of high pressure.
Conversely, falling belt gas usually
whirls around regions of low pressure,
like cyclones and
hurricanes on Earth.
Belt storms can form into large and long-lasting
white ovals and
elongated
red spots.
NASA's robotic
Juno spacecraft
captured most of these cloud features in 2017 during
perijove 6, its
sixth pass over the giant planet in its looping 2-month
orbit.
But it is surely not these clouds themselves that
draws your attention to the
displayed image,
but rather their
arrangement.
The face that stands out, nicknamed
Jovey McJupiterFace,
lasted perhaps a few weeks before the neighboring storm clouds rotated away.
Juno has now completed 33 orbits
around Jupiter and just yesterday made a
close pass near
Ganymede,
our Solar System's
largest moon.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
