Yesterday, we posted some incredible photos from the Juno Probe’s 29th flyby of Jupiter. Juno is in a highly elliptical orbit. It buzzes the planet at an altitude of 4,200km and then sweeps out to 8.1 million. Completing this circuit every 53 days, Juno only spends 2 hours within close proximity to Jupiter reducing the probe’s exposure to harmful radiation of high energy particles accelerated by Jupiter’s magnetic field.
With each orbit, Juno captures stunning images of Jupiter’s clouds using its JunoCam. On one of the previous flybys, Perijove 22 (close Jupiter approach 22) made Sep 12, 2019, JunoCam also caught an eclipse! The shadow of Jupiter’s moon, Io was clearly visible on the cloud tops of the giant world (in the image above). The photo recently gained new traction in the media, but there is something even more exciting. Earlier this week, Kevin Gill a software engineer who’s been processing the raw images from Juno for the public, turned data from the Io eclipse into an interactive 360 degree video. With visuals up to 8K resolution, you can actually hover above Jupiter’s clouds at the point where Io’s shadow falls and then drag the image to see Jupiter all around you! Go visit Jupiter!
Kevin also processes images from other NASA missions and the photos are astonishing. You can follow Kevin’s work on Twitter (@kevinmgill) and Instagram (@apoapsys). Kevin’s collection is available on his Flickr account which includes the latest Perjove 29 photos we posted yesterday.
More to Explore:
Does Jupiter Have a Solid Core? – Universe Today
What’s Inside Jupiter – Universe Today Video
What has the Juno Mission Taught us About Jupiter – Astronomy
NASA’s Juno Finds Changes in Jupiter’s Magnetic Field
The Formation of Jupiter’s Diluted Core by a Giant Impact – Nature
How Jupiter Split the Asteroid Belt in Two Shows its Great Age