Jupiter's Swirling Clouds

Jupiter's Swirling Clouds

The JunoCam instrument on board of the Juno spacecraft took photos of Jupiter's south pole and its chaotic clouds on April 1st during the closest approach - 24,749 kilometers from the surface.

Illustration of the Juno spacecraft - Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

These breathtaking gifs were then made by citizen scientits Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran who illustrated the evolution of Jupiter's cloud tops.

Credit: Gerald Eichstädt/NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS

They were also able to model the subtle motions within the gas giant's atmosphere and extrapolate the swirling evolution of clouds creating a new composite image.

Enhanced swirl and extrapolated cloud evolution - Credit: Gerald Eichstädt/NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS

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