The Juno mission is nearing its primary mission finis and iscontinuing to deliverthe most spectacular simulacrum of Jupiter . The latest set gives a birdseye view of the iconic Great Red Spot , the mammoth anticyclonic storm located 22 degrees south of the satellite ’s equator .
The image was crack during Juno ’s latest close flyby on April 1 . This is the 12thflyby since the NASA probe first reached Jupiter in July 2016 . The persona was taken when Juno was between 24,749 and 49,299 kilometers ( 15,379 and 30,633 miles ) from the acme of the planet ’s cloud . The investigation was flying at a parallel of latitude of somewhere between 43.2 and 62.1 degree in the south .
Juno ’s image are upload raw to a website where members of the public can look at them and even work on the simulacrum . The late prototype was treat by two citizen scientists , Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran , and shows the Great Red Spot surrounded by the many riotous flows that shape the gas giant ’s swarm cover .
The Great Red Spot has been see “ blotching ” Jupiter since 1830 and may have be since at least 1665 , although some think a different storm might have been witnessed at the beginning of advanced uranology . It is over 16,000 kilometers ( 10,000 mile ) across , which is about 1.3 times the size of the Earth .
The storm has managed to hold out for decades as Jupiter lacks a substantial aerofoil . This means there ’s trivial to thin the angular impulse of the system . That said , the storm hasshrunk significantlyin the last 100 years . It is unsung if the tempest will continue to funk until it dissipates or if this is a normal wavering . Storms like these are common in gas pedal giants but we are yet to empathize the mechanism behind them . Hopefully , Junowill helpwith that .
The spacecraft ’s purpose is to understand the gravitational and magnetic field of the planet and map out the variation in atmospheric authorship , temperature , and body structure , peer through the cloud like the mythical goddess from which it gets its name . Juno ’s elemental mission will end with its 14thorbit on July 16 . NASA will then have to decide whether to extend the mission or establish Juno into Jupiter where it will disintegrate .
