Ghost in Motion

This time-lapse animation of two true-color images taken 12 minutes apart neatly captures storm movement in the southern hemisphere of Jupiter.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft took these images during its tenth close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 16, 2017 at 10:12 a.m. PST (1:12 p.m. EST) and 10:24 a.m. PST (1:24 p.m. EST). At the time, the spacecraft was about 8,453 miles (13,604 kilometers) and 19,244 miles (30,970 kilometers) from the tops of the clouds above the planet, with the images centered on south latitudes of 27.96 degrees and 49.91 degrees.

The animation reveals the cyclonic motion of the STB Ghost, a large elongated feature in Jupiter's South Temperate Belt. This feature is elongated in the east-west direction and is located near the center in these images.

Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed the image using data from the JunoCam imager.

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at:

www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam

More information about Juno is at:

https://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu