NASA Shares Breathtaking Photo of Vortices Near Jupiter’s North Pole From Juno Mission [LOOK]

The JunoCam sensor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) obtained a lovely picture of vortices and hurricane-like spiral wind patterns close to the planet's north pole.

The photograph was taken on July 5 during Juno's 43rd close flyby of our Solar System's largest planet, as the spacecraft sailed a comparatively near 15,600 miles (25,100 kilometers) over the polar cloud tops.

Most of the time, Jupiter's poles are obscured by their axial orientation, making it difficult for humans to observe them. As a result, planetary scientists rely on Juno's data to investigate the atmospheric processes at work in these enigmatic and stormy areas.

NASA Juno Mission Finds Powerful Storm Near Jupiter's North Pole

The image above appears to be quite calm. Still, when you zoom in on Jupiter's cloud tops, you can see the planet's weather in incredible magnitude and intensity, as shown in this earlier photograph that NASA engineer Kevin Gill analyzed and shared on Flickr.

"These powerful storms can be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) in height and hundreds of miles across," NASA JPL wrote in its blog post.

"Figuring out how they form is key to understanding Jupiter's atmosphere, as well as the fluid dynamics and cloud chemistry that create the planet's other atmospheric features," the space agency added.

Science Alert pointed out that Jupiter's poles feature a distinctive configuration of storms. Six cyclones, each roughly the size of the continental United States, have formed near the south pole. One is in the middle, surrounded by five other storms that form an almost perfect pentagon and are all rotating clockwise.

Even weirder are the storm patterns in the north pole, where nine storms were found, eight of which were arranged around a central storm rotating counterclockwise. Other vortices are raging in the high latitude areas surrounding these major polar concatenations of storms.

By analyzing Juno data, researchers have discovered a mechanism that prevents numerous storms from converging into a single mega-storm, as we observe near Saturn's poles. One of the planetary scientists' most vital tools for comprehending Jupiter's erratic weather, particularly in its poles, is tracking variations between Juno flybys.

Experts Intrigued by Jupiter's Stormy Weather

In addition to color schemes, however, scientists are typically intrigued by the stormy weather on Jupiter since such an understanding might aid in deciphering data about the atmosphere's fluid dynamics and the Jovian clouds. Since the classification of storm photos and other meteorological phenomena of Jupiter is so crucial, CNet mentioned that NASA has been attempting to outsource the task.

Zooming out, Jupiter is home to many secrets, which is why the European Space Agency is prepared to send its own mission there to join Juno's cosmological exploration. Others have even made attempts to investigate if Jupiter's incredibly fragile, practically invisible rings may contain information that could help solve the mysteries of this planet, but to no effect.

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