In a pair of eye-opening new space photos, the largest planet in our solar system glows like never before, with its hazy surface, and its northern and southern auroras.
The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCAM) is a system that doesn't take selfies like your phone does. Taking in light from outside the spectrum visible to the human eye presents Jupiter as a planet filled with ethereal phenomena.
Left: The new infrared view Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jupiter ERS Team / Image processing by Judy Schmidt.
Right: A 2020 Hubble photo of Jupiter Credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center) / M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley) / OPAL team
NASA enlisted the assistance of a citizen scientist to piece together the above photo from three different data layers. The red layer is from the F360M layer, which is used for planets, and the yellow-green layer is from the F212N filter, which is used for hydrogen. Jupiter's rotation causes the images to be in a different alignment.
The second image was taken from just two of the NIRCam filters, and it shows a different version of Jupiter. We can see the enormous planet set against distant galaxies and see its faint and rarely photographed rings.
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Rings, galaxies, moons, and, oh yeah, also Jupiter. Credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Jupiter ERS Team / Image processing by Ricardo Hueso (UPV / EHU) and Judy Schmidt
Imke de Pater told NASA that they hadn't expected it to be as good as it is.
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