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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Chaotic Clouds of Jupiter

Chaotic Clouds of Jupiter
Chaotic Clouds of Jupiter This image captures swirling cloud belts and tumultuous vortices within Jupiter’s northern hemisphere. NASA’s Juno spacecraft took this color-enhanced image on May 23, 2018, as the spacecraft performed its 13th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was about 15,500 kilometers (9,600 miles) from the planet's cloud tops, above a northern latitude of 56 degrees. The region seen here is somewhat chaotic and turbulent, given the various swirling cloud formations. In general, the darker cloud material is deeper in Jupiter’s atmosphere, while brighter cloud material is high. The bright clouds are most likely ammonia or ammonia and water, mixed with a sprinkling of unknown chemical ingredients. Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran created this image using data from the spacecraft’s JunoCam imager. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt /Seán Doran