NASA has released an image of a rose-colored planet Jupiter that was taken by a camera onboard the Juno space probe, which has entered Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016.
JunoCam
The U.S space agency's Juno spacecraft carries the JuneCam camera to acquire the best pictures of the polar regions of Jupiter. NASA posts raw images from Juno and invites the public to download and process the images, as well as to share the processed images.
"The types of image processing we'd love to see range from simply cropping an image to highlighting a particular atmospheric feature, as well as adding your own color enhancements, creating collages and adding advanced color reconstruction," NASA said.
Rose-colored Gas Giant Planet
On Feb. 7, the Juno spacecraft captured a close-up view of a storm with bright cloud tops in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter. The color-enhanced image was taken during the space probe's 11th close flyby of the Jovian planet when it was 7,578 miles from the top of Jupiter's clouds at 49.2 degrees north latitude.
The image was processed by citizen scientist Matt Brealey using data from the JunoCam imager. Citizen scientist Gustavo B C later adjusted the colors and embossed Brealey's processing of the storm.
Great Red Spot
NASA scientists have also released a new update about Jupiter's iconic storm, the Great Red Spot.
In a new study published in the Astronomical Journal, Amy Simon, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and colleagues revealed new changes observed in the Great Red Spot.
By looking at archived observations, the researchers found that while the diameter of the storm has been shrinking for a century and a half, its clouds are stretching upward. Simon and colleagues also found that the storm has been changing colors. They noticed that that the color of the storm now resembles orange instead of red.
Simon said that storms are dynamic and this is what they have seen in Jupiter's Great Red Spot. It constantly changes in size and shape, and its winds shift as well.
Nonetheless, the researchers said that if the trend they observed in the Great Red Spot continues, there could be significant changes in the storm in the next few years.
"The next five to 10 years could be very interesting from a dynamical point of view," said study researcher Rick Cosentino, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "We could see rapid changes in the storm's physical appearance and behavior, and maybe the red spot will end up being not so great after all."
