NASA Juno Spacecraft Takes Stunning New Images of Clouds on Jupiter

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 7 — An illustration of NASA's Juno spacecraft flying above the clouds of Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin Gill

2018-01-06T14:06:00.000Z

NASA's $1 billion Juno spacecraft completed its 10th high-speed trip around Jupiter on December 16.

The robot gets relatively close to the gas giant and takes new photos with its JunoCam instrument roughly every 53 days while traveling at up to 130,000 mph.

It can take days or sometimes weeks to receive the images, but the wait is worth it. The latest batch of photos features swirling, hallucinatory clouds and storms.

Researchers at NASA and the Southwest Research Institute uploaded the raw image data to their websites late last month. Since then, dozens of people have processed the black-and-white files into gorgeous, calendar-ready color pictures.

"As pretty as a planet can get, but get too close and Jupiter will END YOU," Sean Doran, a UK-based graphic artist who regularly processes NASA images, said about the new images in a tweet.

Here are some of the best new photos and animations made with JunoCam data by Doran and other fans of the spacecraft.

NASA launched Juno in 2011, and it took nearly five years for the probe to reach Jupiter.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 11 — A pole of Jupiter. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

Juno's orbit takes it far beyond Jupiter — then quickly and closely around it — to minimize the exposure of electronics to the planet's harsh radiation fields.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 12 — Jupiter's southern temperate belt. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin Gill

During each 53-1/2-day orbit, called a perijove, JunoCam records a new batch of photos.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 8 — Jupiter's southern tropical zone. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin Gill

The spacecraft is the only one ever to fly above and below Jupiter's poles.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 6 — One of Jupiter's poles. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

Researchers are trying to make sense of the gas giant's swirling mess of polar cloud formations, like these captured during Juno's 10th perijove.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 2 — Jupiter's swirling clouds. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

The planet's many bands of cloud groups are also a scientific puzzle.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 3 — Jupiter's swirling clouds. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Sean Doran

Some of the storms seen on Jupiter have diameters larger than Earth's.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 4 — Scientists say this is a "mind-bending, color-enhanced view of the planet's tumultuous atmosphere." NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstadt/Sean Doran

Here's a full set of JunoCam images.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 1 — Images from Juno's 10th perijove. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin Gill

But some fans of the spacecraft have figured out how to stitch them together into time-lapse movies.

Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Spice/Gerald Eichstadt

NASA expects Juno to orbit Jupiter for at least a couple more years — and continue to beam back incredible new pictures.

juno junocam jupiter perijove 10 nasa jpl caltech swri msss 10

However, the space agency will eventually destroy the $1 billion robot. This will prevent an accidental crash into Jupiter's icy moon Europa, which may harbor an ocean — and potentially alien life.

europa jupiter ice moon half hemisphere 2x1 nasa jpl galileo pia19048 — Half of Europa as seen via images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute

Sources: Business Insider (1, 2)

NASA's $1 billion Jupiter probe has taken mind-bending new photos of the gas giant

NASA launched Juno in 2011, and it took nearly five years for the probe to reach Jupiter.

Juno's orbit takes it far beyond Jupiter — then quickly and closely around it — to minimize the exposure of electronics to the planet's harsh radiation fields.

During each 53-1/2-day orbit, called a perijove, JunoCam records a new batch of photos.

The spacecraft is the only one ever to fly above and below Jupiter's poles.

Researchers are trying to make sense of the gas giant's swirling mess of polar cloud formations, like these captured during Juno's 10th perijove.

The planet's many bands of cloud groups are also a scientific puzzle.

Some of the storms seen on Jupiter have diameters larger than Earth's.

Here's a full set of JunoCam images.

But some fans of the spacecraft have figured out how to stitch them together into time-lapse movies.

NASA expects Juno to orbit Jupiter for at least a couple more years — and continue to beam back incredible new pictures.

However, the space agency will eventually destroy the $1 billion robot. This will prevent an accidental crash into Jupiter's icy moon Europa, which may harbor an ocean — and potentially alien life.

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