NASA’s Juno mission captured this look at the southern hemisphere of
Jupiter on Feb. 17, 2020, during the spacecraft’s most recent close approach to
the giant planet.
Not only is
Jupiter the largest planet orbiting the Sun, it contains more than twice the amount
of material of all other objects in the solar system combined — including all
the planets, moons, asteroids and comets. In composition, Jupiter resembles a
star, and scientists estimate that if it had been at least 80 times more
massive at its formation, it could have become a type of star called a red
dwarf rather than a planet.
While the
universe’s most common elements, hydrogen and helium, make up most of Jupiter’s
mass, the striking clouds that are visible at the top of its atmosphere are
composed mostly of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide.
This
high-resolution view is a composite of four images captured by the JunoCam
imager and assembled by citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill. The images were
taken on Feb. 17, 2020, between 10:31 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. PST (1:31 p.m.
and 2:00 p.m. EST). During that time, the spacecraft was between
about 30,700 and 62,400 miles (49,500 and 100,400 kilometers) from the tops of
the planet’s clouds, at latitudes between about 50 and 68 degrees South.
Image & info via NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html
Image credit:
Image data:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Image processing
by Kevin M. Gill, © CC BY
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