Jupiter’s North Pole

Pictures taken by spacecraft Juno show that Jupiter is bluer and stormier than expected.

21:05 07 September 2016

The NASA spacecraft Juno has sent the first pictures of Jupiter’s north pole back to Earth. The spacecraft made it first flypast of the planet on 27 August. Juno came within 2,500 miles of the planet and has taken pictures that have stunned scientists.  

 

Although still in the process of analysing the six megabyte of data collected during Juno’s six-hour trip between the north and south poles, scientists have already spotted a few things that have them excited.

 

Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, said: "First glimpse of Jupiter's north pole, and it looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before.

 

"It's bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms.

 

"There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to - this image is hardly recognisable as Jupiter.

 

"We're seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features."

 

"The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique," he added. "We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is."