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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