Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno
Explanation:
What creates the colors in Jupiter's clouds?
No one is sure.
The thick atmosphere of
Jupiter
is mostly
hydrogen and
helium, elements which are colorless at the low temperatures of the
Jovian cloud tops.
Which trace elements provide the colors remains a
topic
of research, although small amounts of
ammonium hydrosulfide
are
one leading candidate.
What is clear from the
featured
color-enhanced image -- and many similar images -- is that lighter clouds are
typically higher up than darker ones.
Pictured,
light clouds swirl around
reddish regions toward the lower right,
while they appear to cover over some darker domains on the upper right.
The featured image was taken by the robotic
Juno spacecraft during its
14th low pass over Jupiter
earlier this year.
Juno continues in its looping elliptical orbit,
swooping near the huge planet
every 53 days and exploring a slightly different sector each time around.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
