Sylvie Claire / August 24, 2022
On these new images, Jupiter shows two northern lights and a swirling haze.
This August 22, NASA unveiled new pictures of the planet Jupiter taken last July by its James-Webb telescope. We can see, in red on these images, two northern and southern auroras located at the north and south poles of the planet as well as a swirling haze.
The brightness indicates high altitudes, so the red spots show high-altitude haze, says solar system observing scientist Heidi Hammel. The many bright white spots and streaks are probably very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms.
In these new images of Jupiter, it is also possible to see the bright rings as well as the two moons of the planet: Amalthea and Adrastea. To be honest, we didn't expect it to be this good, confides Imke de Pater, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley. It's remarkable to be able to see details about Jupiter: its rings, its small satellites and even its galaxies in a single image.