Explanation:
The New Horizons spacecraft took some stunning images of
Jupiter on its way out to Pluto.
Famous for its
Great Red Spot,
Jupiter is also known for its regular, equatorial cloud bands,
visible through even modest sized telescopes.
The above image, horizontally compressed, was taken in 2007 near Jupiter's
terminator and shows the
Jovian giant's wide diversity of
cloud patterns.
On the far left are clouds closest to Jupiter's South Pole.
Here turbulent
whirlpools
and swirls are seen in a dark region,
dubbed a belt, that rings the planet.
Even light colored regions, called zones, show tremendous structure,
complete with
complex wave patterns.
The energy that drives these waves surely comes from below.
New Horizons
is the
fastest space probe
ever launched, has
now passed the orbits of Saturn and Uranus and is
on track to reach Pluto in 2015.
