Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: How do Jupiter's clouds move? To help find out, images taken with NASA's Juno spacecraft during its last pass near Jupiter have been analyzed and digitally extrapolated into a time-lapse video . The eight-second time-lapse video, digitally extrapolated between two images taken only nine minutes apart, estimates how Jupiter 's clouds move over 29 hours. Abstractly, the result appears something like a psychedelic paisley dream. Scientifically, however, the computer animation shows that circular storms tend to swirl , while bands and zones appear to flow. This overall motion is not surprising and has been seen on time-lapse videos of Jupiter before , although never in this detail. The featured region spans about four times the area of Jupiter's Great Red Spot . Results from Juno are showing, unexpectedly, that Jupiter's weather phenomena can extend deep below its cloud tops . Web designed by Simon G. Kupisz, 2020
