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PIA00838: First Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) Image of the Great Red Spot
This infrared image, taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in late June, 1996, of Jupiter's Great Red Spot has different colors than what you normally see.
 Target Name:  Jupiter
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Galileo 
 Spacecraft:  Galileo Orbiter
 Instrument:  Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer 
 Product Size:  1300 x 900 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Producer ID:  MRPS77701  
 Addition Date:  1998-03-26 
 Primary Data Set:  Galileo EDRs 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00838.tif (1.043 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00838.jpg (38.36 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image of Jupiter's Great Red Spot has different colors than what you normally see. This is because it was recorded by an instrument that looks at infrared "light" (rather than visible), the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) in late June, 1996. Red, green, and blue colors were chosen to represent what the NIMS "eye" saw at three different infrared wavelengths, which were picked because they reveal the differences in Jupiter's cloud heights. The yellow-green tinge of the Great Red Spot indicates the cloud particles are higher relative to the surrounding region, and shows structure within the red spot itself. The blue regions indicate a thinning of the clouds there.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC.

This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1998-03-26