APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
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APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Nov 21, 2018 5:06 am

Image Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno

Explanation: What creates the colors in Jupiter's clouds? No one is sure. The thick atmosphere of Jupiter is mostly hydrogen and helium, elements which are colorless at the low temperatures of the Jovian cloud tops. Which trace elements provide the colors remains a topic of research, although small amounts of ammonium hydrosulfide are one leading candidate. What is clear from the featured color-enhanced image -- and many similar images -- is that lighter clouds are typically higher up than darker ones. Pictured, light clouds swirl around reddish regions toward the lower right, while they appear to cover over some darker domains on the upper right. The featured image was taken by the robotic Juno spacecraft during its 14th low pass over Jupiter earlier this year. Juno continues in its looping elliptical orbit, swooping near the huge planet every 53 days and exploring a slightly different sector each time around.

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BDanielMayfield
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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by BDanielMayfield » Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:55 am

Looks fractally delicious. Cosmopolitan Ice Cream.
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by Ann » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:09 am

BDanielMayfield wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 6:55 am Looks fractally delicious. Cosmopolitan Ice Cream.
:D :thumbsup:

(But is that really a color-enhanced picture? Jupiter is pretty colorful in itself.)

Ann
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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by Boomer12k » Wed Nov 21, 2018 9:56 am

Awesome image...

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TVS

Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by TVS » Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:41 pm

Why don’t the gases mix into a single color like mixing paint?

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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by Ann » Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:45 pm

Io rising above Jupiter.
NASA/JunoCam/Gerald Eichstädt, Justin Cowart


Okay, maybe today's APOD really has been color-enhanced. I found this Jupiter picture on the web. What do you think about it? Pale, right?

And isn't that a cool-looking whale swimming in the clouds of Jupiter at upper left?

Ann
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z00mer

Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by z00mer » Wed Nov 21, 2018 4:10 pm

Stunningly beautiful.
I would like to see it in IR. Thermal data might help answer some of these questions.
Juno likely passes too quickly to get useful time-lapse imaging.

z00mer

Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by z00mer » Wed Nov 21, 2018 4:24 pm

Ann wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:45 pm
Io rising above Jupiter.
NASA/JunoCam/Gerald Eichstädt, Justin Cowart


Okay, maybe today's APOD really has been color-enhanced. I found this Jupiter picture on the web. What do you think about it? Pale, right?

And isn't that a cool-looking whale swimming in the clouds of Jupiter at upper left?

Ann
Heck, you're right! I thought it was a shark.
I also enjoy that angel fish behind and below. Actually its just below Io near the limb (look at full res. image)

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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by Fred the Cat » Wed Nov 21, 2018 5:44 pm

Ammonium hydrosulfide. Pew! Minus the "hydro" part, Jupiter fulfills the recommendation from a Wiki site. :thumb_up:

“Can be made by bubbling ammonia through an aqueous solution of hydrogen sulfide. For higher purity, hydrogen sulfide is bubbled through anhydrous ammonia.This procedure is very dangerous and should ONLY be performed in well ventilated areas, preferably in some place far away from civilization.” :wink:
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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by neufer » Wed Nov 21, 2018 5:57 pm

TVS wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:41 pm
Why don’t the gases mix into a single color like mixing paint?
Jupiter is rotating very rapidly and generates most of its heat internally (rather than equatorial solar heating).

The Earth rotates much slower and must convectively transfer excessive equatorial heat to the poles.

Hence, Earth's atmosphere is much more mixed that Jupiter's.
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by James Phoenix » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:55 pm

Why does the lite colored swirl in the upper left appear to be clockwise in motion while the rest appear counter-clockwise?

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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by neufer » Wed Nov 21, 2018 10:18 pm

James Phoenix wrote: Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:55 pm
Why does the lite colored swirl in the upper left appear to be clockwise in motion while the rest appear counter-clockwise?
The Great Red Spot is a persistent [high-level,] high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm.
  • Low-level, low-pressure circulations are cyclonic.

    High-level, high-pressure circulations are anticyclonic.
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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by srm » Thu Nov 22, 2018 7:26 pm

What i always wonder about all those images from juno and other space probes taking picture of our solar systems planets. A. Why is the picture quality so bad considering they use cameras that costs millions more than an average high end professional cameras? and B. why do they never record some videos? Considering the efficient image compression algorithms we have for images and videos, size shouldn't be a big deal.

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Re: APOD: Swirls and Colors on Jupiter from Juno (2018 Nov 21)

Post by Chris Peterson » Thu Nov 22, 2018 9:41 pm

srm wrote: Thu Nov 22, 2018 7:26 pm What i always wonder about all those images from juno and other space probes taking picture of our solar systems planets. A. Why is the picture quality so bad considering they use cameras that costs millions more than an average high end professional cameras?
You have a funny definition of "bad" picture quality. Juno perhaps has some of the worst quality images, because its camera is not a primary science instrument, but is mainly for public outreach, and has specifications and performance not unlike a consumer digital camera. Still pretty good, IMO. Most missions have cameras that are part of their primary instrument package. These cameras return very high quality data... although you may not always see what they are capable of, given that images are commonly reduced in size and compressed into 8 bits or less per channel. Also, those cameras typically image through filters, so the ability to reconstruct accurate color (which is usually not scientifically interesting) is frequently limited.
and B. why do they never record some videos? Considering the efficient image compression algorithms we have for images and videos, size shouldn't be a big deal.
Because for the most part, nothing happens that is interesting at multiple frames per second. You do often see timelapse videos built from lower frame rate data.
Chris

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