10 years after NASA launched its Juno mission to Jupiter, here are its most astonishing images of the gas giant

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spaceship probe juno mission flying over the clouds of jupiter storms perijove 7 nasa jpl msss swri kevin m gill 39151111202_e315b52f52_o

NASA’s Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter has been taking breathtaking photos of the gas giant since 2016.
Juno flew over polar cyclones, highs, aurorae, the Great Red Spot and the huge moons of Jupiter.
Citizen scientists retouch Juno’s raw footage to highlight storms and clouds in stunning colors. These images reveal the turbulent bands of the planet’s atmosphere, from its equator to each pole.
The mission also collected data revealing the evolution of Jupiter over time. This story is essential for understanding the gas giants that orbit other stars.
Juno’s data revealed how Jupiter’s Aurora X works, the depth of its large red spot, and the immense strength of its magnetic field.
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NASA’s Juno mission has been orbiting Jupiter and taking great photos for more than five years.

planet jupiter rising in the dark with swirling stripes of orange white purple brown

The spacecraft was launched over 10 years ago on August 5, 2011. As it sped towards Jupiter, it took a farewell photo of Earth, proving its cameras were ready for space. .

Juno finally reached the giant gas planet in 2016. It fell in orbit of Jupiter in July.

Jupiter orange yellow hemisphere emerging from the shadows

Since its launch, the probe has traveled more than a billion kilometers and its JunoCam instrument has taken more than 19,800 photos.

juno jupiter clouds nasa jpl msss gerald eichstaedt sean dora bigger space

Juno transmits raw data to Earth as black and white photo layers that represent red, blue, and green.

Jupiter hemisphere black and white with string of pearl storms — A raw image of Jupiter in blue, green and red, captured on August 6, 2021. NASA / SwRI / MSSS

Then, Citizen Scientists merge the layers and process them to create colorful portraits. They enhance the colors to highlight different bands of Jupiter’s atmosphere, storms and clouds.

Jupiter bands of purple orange clouds with gray highs

Juno’s orbit pulls it away from Jupiter, then brings it back to the planet for close flyovers. In these overflights, the spacecraft circled over Jupiter’s north pole, where eight storms raged around a giant, Earth-sized cyclone in the center.

Jupiter north pole large dark spot surrounded by eight red cyclones

The south pole of the planet is no less impressive. Juno gave us the first close-up photos ever taken of the poles of Jupiter.

Jupiter pole clouds storm juno nasa jpl 17 051

Seen together, the series of photos Juno takes on each flyby allow image processors – like Seán Doran, who created this composite – to show the spaceship’s journey.

planet jupiter juno perijove April 12, 2018 nasa jpl msss swri gerald eichstaedt sean doran 39406285760_bc7d41cb69_k

Successive images show Juno moving from pole to pole in just a few hours, approaching Jupiter and then taking off.

planet jupiter super red dot series juno perijove april 12, 2018 nasa jpl msss swri gerald eichstaedt sean doran

But Juno’s mission isn’t to make pretty pictures. He is looking for clues about the formation of Jupiter and how it has changed over time.

This story can help scientists learn more about the beginnings of our solar system and give clues to the Jupiter-like gas giants orbiting other stars.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 2

Juno measured Jupiter’s magnetic field for the first time, finding it much stronger than scientists expected. Jupiter’s magnetic field is 10 times stronger than the strongest field on Earth.

Jupiter blue white green swirling clouds

A year after arriving, Juno passed the Great Red Spot of Jupiter, a raging storm near the planet’s equator. He discovered that this cyclone goes 200 miles deep, which is 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth’s oceans.

jupiter big red spot spinning gif swirling animation

Cyclones rotate in the same direction as the planet, but anticyclones rotate in the opposite direction. Both are found all over Jupiter, in varying sizes.

planet jupiter juno perijove April 12, 2018 nasa jpl msss swri kevin m gill 40484759574_5e642e3c1b_k

Juno also spotted the aurora that crosses Jupiter’s south pole – like auroras on Earth, but hundreds of times stronger. Unlike the auroras of other planets, those of Jupiter emit powerful X-rays.

Jupiter south pole aurora swirling red clouds

In June, the spacecraft flew over Jupiter’s icy satellite, Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. Scientists believe that Ganymede harbors an ocean below its surface, which means it could harbor life.

Ganymede cratered gray moon half shrouded in darkness — This image of Ganymede was obtained by the JunoCam imager during Juno’s flight over the frozen moon on June 7, 2021. NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS

Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt compiled the footage of Juno into a time-lapse video of his June flyby, which took the spacecraft past Jupiter and Ganymede.

The video is three minutes and 30 seconds long, but in reality it took Juno almost 15 hours to travel the 735,000 miles from Ganymede to Jupiter, and then about three more hours to travel the poles of Jupiter.

Juno also captured the shadow of Jupiter’s volcanically active moon, Io, passing between the planet and the sun. In total, Jupiter has 79 moons.

Jupiter Moon io casts a shadow on the colorful stripes of the planet

Juno was originally scheduled to launch into a fiery death in Jupiter’s atmosphere in July, but NASA has extended its mission until September 2025. It now plans to pass the moons Ganymede, Io, and Europe.

cyclone swirling brown gray purple clouds over jupiter

In the process, Juno will be sure to send back more photos of the largest planet in our solar system.

Jupiter clouds belts purple orange white green blue

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