“The Juno mission provides us with an opportunity to observe Jupiter in a way which is essentially inaccessible by Earth-based telescopic observations. We can look at the same cloud features from very different angles within only a few minutes. This has opened up a new opportunity to derive 3D elevation models of Jupiter’s cloud tops. The images of the wonderful chaotic storms on Jupiter seem to come to life, showing clouds rising at different altitudes.
The images used to create the animation were taken during Juno’s 43rd close flyby of Jupiter , which took place on July 5th, 2022, when the probe was at a nominal altitude of 13,536.3 km above Jupiter’s cloud tops. These visible-light pictures once again revealed intimate details about Jupiter’s atmosphere, including the swirling cloud formations near the planet’s north pole, reaching depths of over 50 km and hundreds of km in diameter.
In Jupiter’s dense atmosphere, illumination is most intense for clouds in the upper layers. In contrast, more light is absorbed by clouds deeper down before being scattered back to space. By analyzing how sunlight is reflected and scattered by different parts of the atmosphere, the team created a 3D visual representation of the elevation of the cloud tops, noting the spiky pillars within the swirls.
“From theoretical models, the clouds are expected to be composed of different chemical species, ammonia, ammonium hydrosulphide, and water ice from top to bottom. Once we calibrate our data thanks to other measurements of the same cloud tops, we will test and refine the theoretical predictions and have a better 3D picture of the chemical composition.”
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