Check Out the Stunning New Images of Jupiter From NASA’s Juno Spacecraft

November 11, 2024 8:25 AM

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has just released stunning images of Jupiter, captured during its 66th flyby of the largest and oldest planet in our solar system. The Juno mission has been studying the Jovian system—Jupiter, along with its rings and many moons—to learn about the giant planet’s formation and evolution with the hope that it might shed light on the development of the entire solar system, per a NASA statement. The solar-powered spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in August 2011 and reached Jupiter in July 2016.
posted by dancestoblue (18 comments total)

Stunning to be sure.

'shopped to hell and gone but....

Gas giant planets just make no sense to me. Not as scary as the Sun, but, just crazy.
posted by Windopaene at 8:38 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]

wow. that's a bigga planet!
posted by supermedusa at 8:44 AM on November 11

Thanks for sharing. I find a lot of peace in thinking about the enormity and majesty of the universe. Time to go listen to Carl Sagan talk about things.
posted by sewellcm at 8:50 AM on November 11 [6 favorites]

Launched in 2011, solar powered, still operating and sending back images. Sometimes us tech guys do OK.
posted by 43rdAnd9th at 9:18 AM on November 11 [7 favorites]

Wonderful images! And I hadn't heard about the details of the mission extension described in the article:

NASA, however, extended the Juno mission to 2021, and by then its flight path had evolved and reassured scientists that there would be no risk of contamination anytime soon. As a result, they decided to further prolong the mission until September 2025. During this extended phase of its flight, the orbiter will circle the planet another 42 times, investigate its moons and complete the first-ever extensive exploration of Jupiter’s faint rings.

Might be time for a re-read of The Algebraist.
posted by audi alteram partem at 10:22 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]

Is there a folder of the photos to download for my screen saver?
posted by rebent at 10:24 AM on November 11

Great stuff.

I'd love to know more about what the "raw" images look like (or if that even makes sense with this technology) and what the "further processing" that was done to produce these images was.
posted by gwint at 11:06 AM on November 11 [5 favorites]

The mission doesn’t have a team of scientists dedicated to image processing, writes Forbes’ Jamie Carter, so it relies on the work of citizen scientists to create stunning and artful interpretations of the data.

I sortof think of the people here at MetaFilter as Citizen Scientists, or maybe Citizen Mad Scientists.

Plus, Citizen Scientists would be a good name for a jam band.

~~~~~

I saw those images and knew I had to post here, if someone hadn't already linked it -- they are just so beautiful. Truth told, they immediately made me think of the unreal great experiences a close friend is having as he is shifting out of horrific PTSD and dark depression using professionally administered ketamine therapy -- healing wounds using beauty is the best, if you're lucky enough to respond well to it. Imagine not just seeing those images but living them -- hell of a show.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:07 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]

I'm thinking, glass paperweight.
posted by BWA at 11:20 AM on November 11 [1 favorite]

'shopped to hell and gone but....

Every modern astronomy image is "'shopped to hell." The instruments and sensors on exploration craft like this as well as telescopes both terrestrial and in space don't capture images in just the human visible spectrum, if at all. Maybe it's all in the IR range of the spectrum. Maybe it's from a radio telescope and nowhere near visible frequencies. Every image is then processed and choices are made on how to visualize the captured data. Are they trying to really emphasize minute differences? Is someone trying to recreate what we would actually see? Or are they trying to make it really stand out?

That's why on every image description in the posted article there is also info on who did the processing and colour enhancement.

Here's a quick link on the JWST and color adjustments.
posted by thecjm at 11:44 AM on November 11 [16 favorites]

The photos are from this page (link is to first of 5 pages of photos):

JunoCam
posted by Wilbefort at 11:49 AM on November 11 [2 favorites]

JunoCam

Humbling to think that just a handful of pixels worth of those pictures is Earth.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:28 PM on November 11

would be a good name for a jam band.

Citizen Scientists opened for 4-Headed Penis

who opened for Lesbian Hayride
posted by ginger.beef at 1:18 PM on November 11

Turns out Jupiter's core is "large, fuzzy and dilute" -- just iike me!

Oh no, wait, I thought it said "dissolute." Never mind.
posted by PlusDistance at 3:12 PM on November 11 [3 favorites]

As I looked at this image of Europa taken by Juno in 2022, I couldn’t help but think about a certain transmission.

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS – EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE.

Remember, we were warned. ;)
posted by zooropa at 11:26 PM on November 11

I ran into a word that I both love and dislike at the same time looking at these. Perijove. Ok, that makes sense, it's the Jupiter version of perihelion or perigee. But shouldn't it be some variation on perizeus instead, to keep with the other sources all coming from ancient Greek? (I'll grant you that keeping with solely ancient Greek naming would make any orbits of Venus a mouthful.)

That said, these are magnificent. I know that they are colored, if I was to look at Jupiter directly and somehow not fry in the radiation, would I be seeing that much blue? Or is that a representation of other parts of the spectrum? Because I did not expect Jupiter to be so blue.
posted by Hactar at 6:49 AM on November 12

No, the planet would look more yellowish-grey I think. A lot of the colors used in these photos is to bring out the detail. As others in this thread have said some of the imaging is captured outside the range of the human eye.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 2:09 PM on November 12

I have a 10” telescope and Jupiter does not look colorful through it but, we do see the bands of clouds.
I’m an amateur astronomer.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 2:10 PM on November 12