Still from an animation of Jupiter’s clouds rendered by JunoCam.
The marbled stripes and red spot make for a stunning view.
The rendering takes the viewer over the planet’s clouds, which have a frosted appearance.
Still from an animation of Jupiter’s clouds rendered by JunoCam. (Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt)
The JunoCam on NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been exploring the planet’s region since 2016.
It has a light imager which collects data .
The planet’s clouds reflect and scatter light.
Visible light plotted in 3D. (Photo: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt)
The top clouds appear brighter to the JunoCam, while the lower are dark.
Methane in these lower clouds absorbs the light.
He created a 3D elevation model featuring thousands of tiny needles of heights proportional to the clouds.
This has opened up a new opportunity to derive 3D elevation models of Jupiter’s cloud-tops.
The results are more than just beautiful.
They will provide insight into the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
Visible light plotted in 3D.
