It鈥檚 the big one as you have never seen it before. NASA鈥檚 Juno probe has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter鈥檚 north pole, showing storms raging above the planet鈥檚 surface.
The images were captured during Juno鈥檚 first fly-by of the planet on 27 August when it was about 4200 kilometres above Jupiter鈥檚 clouds. The probe downloaded 6 megabytes of data during the six-hour fly-by.
鈥淔irst glimpse of Jupiter鈥檚 north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before,鈥� Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno, said in a statement. Shadows cast by the clouds indicate that they are at a higher altitude than the other atmospheric features, said Bolton, who is based at聽the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
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Juno鈥檚 other science instruments are also collecting new data 鈥� this time on the planet鈥檚 auroras. The Radio/Plasma Wave Experiment (Waves) picked up the radio waves they generated, which NASA then shifted into the audio range
And the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) managed to capture images of the planet鈥檚 southern aurora in infrared (below).
Juno entered orbit on 4 July and is orbiting Jupiter鈥檚 poles, rather than around the equator, to protect it from the planet鈥檚 powerful belts of radiation.
