NASA's JunoCam captures breath-taking image of white oval storms, cyclone swirls on Jupiter

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has captured stunning image of the cyclone swirls and white oval storms on Jupiter while making its fourth successful flyby of the planet last week.

The picture shows the south polar region of Jupiter. The cyclone swirls can be seen around the south pole, while the white oval storms can be spotted near the limb, the edge of the planet.

The picture was captured by the JunoCam aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft on February 2, 2017 at 5:52 am PST (8:52 a.m. EST). The picture was clicked from an altitude of 47,600 miles above Jupiter’s swirling cloud deck during its flyby.

Before the flyby of February 2, NASA had invited the public to vote for their favourite points of interest in the Jovian atmosphere for JunoCam to image.

According to NASA, a member of the public, in reference to Earth's Antarctica had named the point of interest captured as “Jovian Antarctica.”
You can view all of JunoCam’s images from the February 2, 2017, flyby of Jupiter HERE.

About the JunoCam:

JunoCam is fitted aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. It is a colour, visible-light camera, which has been designed to capture pictures of Jupiter’s poles and cloud tops. It works as Juno’s eyes and provides a wide view. 

The JunoCam specifically solves the purposes of public engagement, although the pictures captured by it are useful for the NASA’s team of scientists. However, it is not considered as the science instrument of the mission.

About NASA’s Juno spacecraft:

On August 5, 2011, NASA launched the Juno spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On July 4, 2016, Juno probe arrived on Jupiter. Juno is on a mission to probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras during the flybys in order to study about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The Juno mission is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. 

The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the Science Mission Directorate. The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.

Cyclones swirl & white oval storms can be seen near the limb, the apparent edge of Jupiter in this @NASAJuno image: https://t.co/JAZRLTGTie pic.twitter.com/oHLXMnjBoj

— NASA (@NASA) February 7, 2017