NASA releases breathtaking gallery of Jupiter photos

Aside from delivering a trove of valuable information about Jupiter and its nearby environment, the Juno probe has also sent back a number of spectacular photos. After entering Jupiter’s atmosphere, getting closer than ever to the gas giant, and having an unprecedented view on Jupiter’s clouds, Juno has quite the stories to share — it’s Jupiter, like you’ve never seen it before.

Contrast and Color changes both major and subtle to bring out details and also removed longest wavelength color channel to improve sharpness. Oh, and by the way — NASA used MS Paint for this image. All image credits: NASA.

The $1 million Juno spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 and entered Jupiter’s orbit in 2016. Its major objectives are to understand origin and evolution of Jupiter, look for solid planetary core, map magnetic field, measure water and ammonia in deep atmosphere, observe auroras.

Jupiter’s north Pole. Just look at this majestic planet! Image Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Roman Tkachenko

Juno is currently engaged in repeated swings around Jupiter, in a wide arc — to minimize exposure to the planet’s intense radiation belts, which can damage sensitive electronics. NASA planned to fire Juno’s thrusters in October to increase the frequency of these flybys but had to cancel plans due to a malfunction of the engine valves. But that doesn’t prevent Juno from carrying on its mission.

This mosaic was building merging the last 3 flyby over the south hemisphere. Also HDR Tones processing was apply using Photoshop, in order to enhance the color contrast. Image credits: Gervasio Robles / NASA.

Here, we picked just some of our favorites (sometimes enhanced by photo editing software, check the description). Head on to Juno’s page to check out the full gallery.