Juno reveals that Jupiter's north pole is 'like nothing we have seen or imagined'
Source: LA Times
Seen from a different angle, Jupiter looks like a whole new world.
After flying within about 2,500 miles of the gas giant’s cloud tops on Aug. 27, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent home unprecedented images of the planet’s north pole, revealing a stormy fluid-scape that looks as if it could be from a totally different planet.
Last week’s flyby was the spacecraft’s first such pass with all its science instruments turned on, as well as the closest of the 36 orbital flybys that the spacecraft is set to make during its mission. While Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system by far, there’s surprisingly little known about its polar regions — and so Juno’s close-up camera work was bound to deliver a few surprises.
As the JunoCam imager revealed, Jupiter’s north pole is bluer than better-known areas of the planet, which are often dominated by red-brown hues. Gone are those iconic bands of light and dark; in their place, a whole lot of storms.
Read more: http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-jupiter-north-pole-20160902-snap-story.html
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