New infrared footage of Jupiter is giving us a 3D look at the planet's giant cyclones.
Videos released by NASA this week show a detailed view of a central cyclone surrounded by eight circumpolar cyclones. The cyclones range in diameter from 4,000 to 4,600 km, or about one-third of the diameter of Earth. And these aren’t even the planet’s biggest cyclones—the famous Great Red Spot is 1.3 times the size of Earth.
Scientists working on the Juno mission shared these 3D infrared videos during the in Vienna, Austria.
Data collected by Juno's helped create the footage of Jupiter's polar region. It’s able to capture infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter, day and night, probing deep into the weather layer, down to 70 km below the cloud tops.
Scientists concentrated their research on the planet's rotation, its composition and its magnetic field. Zones and belts in the atmosphere rotate at different speeds and extend to about 3,000 kilometres. The data also helped researchers determine that the magnetic field of the gas giant is irregular.
Since it entered Jupiter's orbit, the Juno spacecraft has completed 11 passes, travelling 200 million kilometres. Its 12th orbit will be completed on May 24.
