Since it first entered Jupiter's orbit in 2016, NASA's JunoCam has given the world an unparalleled look at the planet. This visible-light camera/telescope sits in the Juno space probe and sends data back to Earth each time it completes a flyby of the gas giant. Thanks to citizen scientists who process the raw data that NASA uploads, we can see a crisp, clear view of Jupiter in all its glory.
While the JunoCam was only supposed to be operational for 20 months, as this was the original length of the Juno mission, it's still providing us a view of the planet and will continue to do so as long as the probe remains operational.
The photos it provides, particularly of Jupiter's cloud formations and swirling storm systems, are particularly impressive. It's important to remember that the colors we see here are all added in post-production. The JunoCam itself has three color filters—red, blue, and green. As it faces the planet, it snaps images to produce photo strips that are then stitched together to create a complete image.
The people who take the time to process this data enhance the final image so the colors appear as they would to the human eye, even if the raw data looks different.
Of course, taking photos of Jupiter isn't the only thing on Juno's mind. In fact, the imagery is a secondary goal to help with public outreach. In reality, the main aim of the mission is to learn more about Jupiter's composition and how it was formed.
Still, given the stunning visual results, we can't help but be grateful that NASA thought to incorporate a camera to give us a detailed view of the giant planet. Scroll down to see some of our favorite JunoCam photos and see NASA's JunoCam website to discover the newest featured images created by citizen scientists.
Here are some spectacular images of Jupiter taken by NASA's JunoCam.
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