#junocam

Juno:Three views of Jupiter’s moon Io from three different instruments, taken December 21st 2018. Top photo is a JunoCam image, with a volcanic plume visible along the terminator. Second is a Stellar Reference Unit image taken after Io passed into Jupiter’s shadow, & was illuminated only by light reflected off Europa. Third one is a JIRAM infrared image, so the bright spots show heat sources, presumably volcanic features. The article mentions Juno also taking images with the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph, but they neglected to include any with the press release. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen any images from it, come to think of it. Anyway, this is all coming from a probe that wasn’t designed to study Jovian moons, and doesn’t fly anywhere near them.

This image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft provides a never-before-seen perspective on Jupiter’s south pole.

The JunoCam instrument acquired the view on August 27, 2016, when the spacecraft was about 58,700 miles (94,500 kilometers) above the polar region. At this point, the spacecraft was about an hour past its closest approach, and fine detail in the south polar region is clearly resolved.

As NASA’s Juno spacecraft closed in on Jupiter for its Aug. 27, 2016 pass, its view grew sharper and fine details in the north polar region became increasingly visible.

The JunoCam instrument obtained this view on August 27, about two hours before closest approach, when the spacecraft was 120,000 miles (195,000 kilometers) away from the giant planet (i.e., for Jupiter’s center).