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See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission

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Jupiter is a secretive swirl of coffee and cream. We’re only beginning to understand the stories that lie beneath its undulating cloud bands.

Juno, NASA’s spacecraft, has played a crucial role in solving these mysteries. The probe’s JunoCam has been capturing stunning images of the gas giant for the past five years. Although the camera was not technically needed for Juno to achieve its primary scientific goals, the mission’s team agreed that it would be useful for public outreach.

Juno has allowed us to see our solar system’s oldest planet in a completely new way thanks to some talented image processors and citizen scientists.

As Juno prepares to embark on its extended mission, here are our favorite pictures from its journey so far: (click on the image to enlarge)

See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
A stunning new picture of Jupiter based on data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The image shows the world’s southern hemisphere in all its glory, including the whirls of the giant planet’s atmosphere and its classic bands and stripes.

The window on Jupiter is a combination of four images that the onboard camera JunoCam took on Feb. 17, 2020; citizen-scientist Kevin M. Gill assembled the images into this stunning view. As it captured the images, Juno was orbiting between 30,700 and 62,400 miles (49,500 and 100,400 kilometers) above Jupiter’s clouds. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill, © CC BY)
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
JUPITER’S SOUTH POLE This color-enhanced mosaic was created from several images taken over the span of three orbits around Jupiter. The striking oval-shaped features are cyclones, which can stretch about 1,000 kilometers (roughly 620 miles) in diameter.Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Betsy Asher Hall / Gervasio Robles
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
IO’S SHADOW ON JUPITER Here, the shadow of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io can be seen looming over the gas giant. Juno snapped this image on September 12, 2019, during Juno’s 22nd close flyby of Jupiter.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
CLYDE’S SPOT This image, taken by Juno and processed by citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill, offers a glimpse into some of Jupiter’s storms in its southern hemisphere. The Great Red Spot can be seen in the upper left, and a newly discovered plume of cloud material, “Clyde’s Spot,” is the oval that appears toward the center.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
DREAMY JOVIAN CLOUDS Jupiter’s cloud bands look particularly stunning in this processed image. JunoCam took the original picture on October 29, 2018.Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS / Seán Doran
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
JUPITER’S GREAT RED SPOT In its seventh close flyby of Jupiter, Juno got closer to the Great Red Spot than ever before. Juno captured the original version of this image on July 11, 2017.Image: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Seán Doran

See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
A VORTEX ON JUPITER Here, a mesmerizing cyclone can be seen in an area on Jupiter dubbed its “north north north temperate belt,” or NNNTB. The processed image was created from JunoCam data collected in November 2019 during Juno’s 23rd Jovian flyby.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
JUPITER, IO, AND EUROPA FROM JUNO It’s a party in the Jupiter system! Here, Jupiter and two of its moons—Io and Europa—are all squeezed in for a photo opp. Juno took the original image on September 1, 2017.Image: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Roman Tkachenko
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
STORMS IN JUPITER’S NORTHERN HEMISPHERE This color-enhanced image shows some of Jupiter’s famous storms brewing in its northern hemisphere. The original image was taken by Juno on December 26, 2019, during the spacecraft’s 24th close flyby of Jupiter.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
A JET STREAM REGION ON JUPITER Nestled in the planet’s northern hemisphere, Jupiter’s Jet N3 looks dazzling in this color-enhanced image. Juno snapped the original image on May 29, 2019, during the spacecraft’s 20th close flyby of the gas giant.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
HALF-JUPITER FROM JUNO Half of Jupiter is illuminated in this color-enhanced image. Juno captured the original during its fifth perijove flyby on March 27, 2017.Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gabriel Fiset

Last but certainly not least:

See The Best Jupiter Pictures from NASA’s Juno Mission
JUPITER THE MEME This image, which citizen scientist Jason Major aptly nicknamed “Jovey McJupiterface,” quickly became a hit on social media. Jupiter has been rotated in the picture so that a few of its storms seem to form eyes and a mouth. Juno took the original image on May 19, 2017.Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Jason Major

READ MORE: Fly Over Jupiter’s Moon Europa in This Incredible NASA Video

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