Santa Claus isn’t the only one bearing gifts from the north pole at this time of year. NASA’s Juno orbiter also delivered a sackful of presents over the holidays, but from the pole of a different planet: Jupiter.
Every 53 days, the bus-sized spacecraft makes a close encounter with our solar system’s biggest planet, as part of a mission that was launched in 2011 and reached Jupiter in 2016.
Juno’s main mission is to study Jupiter’s magnetic field and gravitational field, to give scientists a deeper understanding of the gas giant’s internal composition. But a visible-light camera called JunoCam was included on the probe, primarily to boost public outreach and education.
The latest encounter, known as Perijove 17, occurred on Dec. 21 and went over Jupiter’s north pole. One of the scientific objectives was to take pictures of the planet’s faint aurora with Juno’s navigational camera, known as the Stellar Reference Unit.
At the same time, JunoCam captured close-up views of Jupiter’s cloud tops, providing lots of raw imagery to keep image-processing gurus busy over the holidays.
Here’s a sampling of pictures from Perijove 17:
#JunoCam image Jupiter's north polar region from December 21, 2018. It was taken from an altitude of ~19,300 km during the #Perijove17 pass. This image captures the numerous cloud swirls (known as folded filamentary regions) that are common in the polar regions of Jupiter. pic.twitter.com/8K5nSQXIgJ
— Justin Cowart (@jccwrt) December 25, 2018
The North Pole of Jupiter, @NASAJuno Perijove 17 https://t.co/QptPUN501whttps://t.co/1sNBB0nnck pic.twitter.com/oRZvDsN9yA
— Kevin M. Gill (@kevinmgill) December 26, 2018
Jupiter@NASAJuno Merry-jove 17
[ Eichstädt / Doran ] pic.twitter.com/Bl5wV2ujz1— Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) December 26, 2018
Jupiter
true/enhanced @NASAJuno Perijove 17
[ Swift / Eichstadt / Doran ] pic.twitter.com/YRw1x8Ue5u— Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) December 25, 2018
Happy holidays from Juno at Jupiter! This is image PJ17_17 ("PJ17 Jet N5") obtained by @NASAJuno on December 21, 2018. Approximately true color/contrast versions and enhanced versions. pic.twitter.com/5XgahahaAP
— Björn Jónsson (@bjorn_jons) December 25, 2018
They have started coming down! #Jupiter Perijove 17 #Juno #NASA #space #science #WeareLM #photography #ChristmasEve #STEM #art
?: NASA/SWRI/MSSS/Wil Santiago pic.twitter.com/jbGVxF0d6n— Wil Santiago (@SpaceWilS) December 24, 2018
And here are a few highlights from past perijoves. Stay tuned for more in 2019!
Jupiter@NASAJuno perijove 16
[ Eichstädt / Doran ] pic.twitter.com/SkdUZakHFi— Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) December 23, 2018
Congrats to @_TheSeaning & @NASAJuno, this photo is the best photo of 2018, chosen by thousands of visitors from the Dutch popular-scientific @Scientias. https://t.co/HEO8Xw24Ki pic.twitter.com/3312IKi8jZ
— Tim Kraaijvanger (@timkraaijvanger) December 26, 2018
So long and thanks for all the fish! ?
A cloud in the shape of a dolphin appears to be swimming through #Jupiter’s cloud bands in this series of color-enhanced images https://t.co/qo3SBTiMvI pic.twitter.com/sRY4bgwThN
— NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) November 30, 2018
This unique view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot from @NASAJuno Perijove 12 is made by reprojecting 5 separate images to this viewpoint and blending/healing lots in Photoshop. [ Eichstädt/Doran ] pic.twitter.com/ir2gFRWFkv
— Seán Doran (@_TheSeaning) December 23, 2018