Enhanced close-up image of Jupiter's clouds. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Björn Jónsson (CC NC SA)
Processed by citizen scientist Björn Jónsson, the images were taken when Juno completed its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter in early July.
NASA has released new images taken by its Juno spacecraft of the clouds of Jupiter – and they are celestial in more ways than one.
The two close-up images of Jupiter’s outer atmosphere were created by citizen scientist Björn Jónsson using publicly available raw data from the JunoCam instrument aboard the spacecraft.
The images were taken when Juno – which first entered Jupiter’s polar orbit in July 2016 to study its atmosphere – completed its 43rd close flyby of our solar system’s largest planet on 5 July 2022. At the time, Juno was about 5,300 km above Jupiter’s top clouds.
The first image, processed to portray the approximate colours that the human eye would see from Juno’s vantage point. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Björn Jónsson (CC NC SA)
Remarkably, the spacecraft at the time was travelling at a speed of about 209,000kph relative to the planet.
NASA said that the first image was processed to portray the approximate colours that the human eye would see from Juno’s vantage point.
The second, more vibrant image was processed from the same data. But Jónsson processed it to increase both the colour saturation and contrast “to sharpen small-scale features and to reduce compression artefacts and noise” that are typically associated with raw images, NASA explained.
The second, enhanced image. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Björn Jónsson (CC NC SA)
“This clearly reveals some of the most intriguing aspects of Jupiter’s atmosphere, including colour variation that results from differing chemical composition, the three-dimensional nature of Jupiter’s swirling vortices, and the small, bright ‘pop-up’ clouds that form in the higher parts of the atmosphere,” NASA said.
Two weeks ago, NASA also revealed stunning images of Jupiter from the James Webb Space Telescope, which garnered significant public attention and awe.
The images, taken by the observatory’s near-infrared camera, showed details such as the planet’s satellites, rings and moons, and even some ‘photobombing’ galaxies.
Earlier this month, NASA also revealed that astronomers were able to use the James Webb telescope to take the first-ever direct image of an exoplanet – the name given to planets outside our solar system.
Images of the exoplanet, named HIP 65426 b, in different bands of infrared light. Image: NASA/ESA/CSA/A Carter (UCSC)/the ERS 1386 team/A Pagan (STScI)
“This is a transformative moment, not only for Webb but also for astronomy generally,” said Sasha Hinkley, associate professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Exeter, who led the observations as part of a large international team.
Aarynn Carter, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who led the analysis of the images, added that at first all he could see was light from the star – but processing helped him uncover the planet. “Obtaining this image felt like digging for space treasure.”
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