PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA02821: Jupiter's Great Red Spot in Cassini Image
 Target Name:  Jupiter
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Cassini-Huygens
 Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
 Instrument:  ISS - Narrow Angle
 Product Size:  528 x 522 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  CICLOPS / University of Arizona
 Addition Date:  2000-10-23
 Primary Data Set:  Cassini
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02821.tif (222.3 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02821.jpg (11.32 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 true color image of Jupiter, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, is composed of three images taken in the blue, green and red regions of the spectrum. All images were taken from a distance of 77.6 million kilometers (48.2 million miles) on Oct. 8, 2000.

Different chemical compositions of the cloud particles lead to different colors. The cloud patterns reflect different physical conditions -- updrafts and downdrafts -- in which the clouds form. The bluish areas are believed to be regions devoid of clouds and covered by high haze.

The Great Red Spot (below and to the right of center) is a giant atmospheric storm as wide as two Earths and over 300 years old, with peripheral winds of 483 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour). This image shows that it is trailed to the north by a turbulent region, caused by atmospheric flow around the spot.

The bright white spots in this region are lightning storms, which were seen by NASA's Galileo spacecraft when it photographed the night side of Jupiter. Cassini will track these lightning storms and measure their lifetimes and motions when it passes Jupiter in late December and looks back on the darkside of the planet. Cassini is currently en route to its ultimate destination, Saturn.

The resolution is 466 kilometers (290 miles) per picture element.

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2000-10-23