NASA Juno Snaps Stunning Jupiter Photo With 'Massive Cyclones, Chaotic Clouds'

NASA’s Juno space probe recently completed its latest flyby of Jupiter. Before leaving the planet, the probe snapped a stunning photo of the gas giant that shows the various activities happening in the planet’s atmosphere.

The Juno spacecraft was officially launched by NASA on Aug. 5, 2011. It was manufactured by Lockheed Martin and is currently being operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Originally, the probe’s mission was only supposed to last for seven years after its launch. However, NASA has decided to extend Juno’s orbital mission around Jupiter. The probe’s official mission is scheduled to end in July 2021.

The Juno probe carried out its 23rd flyby of Jupiter on Nov. 3. As it passed near the planet, the probe moved at a speed of about 85,000 miles per hour. Before that, it was flying at speeds of over 130,000 miles per hour.

Just before the probe left the planet, it took an impressive photo of Jupiter from a distance of 65,500 miles away. As explained by NASA, the photo taken by the probe shows atmospheric phenomena happening on the planet.

“Just after its close flyby of Jupiter on Nov. 3, 2019, NASA's Juno spacecraft caught this striking view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere as the spacecraft sped away from the giant planet,” NASA explained in a statement.

“This image captures massive cyclones near Jupiter's south pole, as well as the chaotic clouds of the folded filamentary region — the turbulent area between the orange band and the brownish polar region,” the agency added.

According to NASA, the photo that Juno took was processed by a citizen scientist named Ali Abbasi, who was able to obtain the original image through the JunoCam website. As noted by the agency, this site contains the raw images taken by the space probe.

It was created to make Juno’s raw images more accessible to citizen scientists, amateur astronomers and space enthusiasts. NASA stated that the images featured on the site can be downloaded and processed by anyone. The agency even encouraged space enthusiasts to share the processed images they have made.