NASA Just Released First-Ever Image Of Jupiter's North Pole Captured By Juno

On August 27, NASA's Juno spacecraft executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter and the agency is starting to release some of the images captured during that part of the mission.

On August 27, NASA's Juno spacecraft executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter and the agency is starting to release some of the images captured during that part of the mission. According to a news release, "NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas-giant planets." The pictures of the north pole were taken two hours prior to the spacecraft's closest approach to the planet - just about 2,500 miles away from Jupiter. Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, notes, “First glimpse of Jupiter’s north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before...It’s bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to -- this image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter. We’re seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features.” The spacecraft collected six megabytes worth of data during the flyby and NASA is expected to release more great images of Jupiter in the coming days.