NASA’s Juno has captured yet another striking image of Jupiter’s mysterious Great Red Spot and turbulent southern hemisphere. It was photographed as the spacecraft performed its 17th science pass of the gas giant. It snapped a total of three images on February 12, and was between 26,876 kilometers and 95,434 kilometers above Jupiter’s cloud tops. Read more for a video showing what NASA’s Juno has discovered so far about Jupiter.
Juno is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, after the nuclear powered Galileo orbiter (1995-2003). Unlike all earlier spacecraft sent to the outer planets, Juno is powered by solar arrays, complete with the three largest solar array wings ever deployed on a planetary probe. They play an integral role in stabilizing the spacecraft as well as generating power.
