NASA Juno probe reveals mind-blowing picture of Jupiter, shows gas giant's atmosphere

An incredible image showing the atmosphere of Jupiter has been revealed via National Space and Aeronautics Administration’s (NASA) Juno spacecraft. The colour enhanced picture captured by the JunoCam aboard the Juno spacecraft is simply mind-blowing.

The JunoCam clicked the picture when NASA’s Juno spacecraft was 8,292 miles (13,345 kilometres) above the tops of Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of 48.9 degrees. The Juno probe captured the picture on December 16, 2017 at 9:43 AM.

Each pixel in the picture measures 5.8 miles (9.3 kilometres). The northern hemisphere of the largest planet of our solar system can be seen in the pic, which also reveals the fast-moving clouds and tornadoes.

The picture received image processing and colour enhancing by Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran before it was released on the official website of NASA.

ALSO READ | NASA's Juno spacecraft captures awe-inspiring image of Raging Storm on Jupiter (see pic)

JunoCam is a visible-light colour camera mounted on NASA’s Juno spacecraft. It captures the images of Jupiter’s poles and cloud tops. It works as the eye of Juno probe and provides context for the other instruments of the spacecraft. 

NASA launched the Juno spacecraft on August 5, 2011 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. The spacecraft hovers low over Jupiter’s cloud tops and gets as close as  about 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometres).

ALSO READ | Roots of Jupiter's Great Red Spot 50 to 100 times deeper than Earth’s oceans, reveals Juno