SPACE — The American Space Agency’s (NASA) Juno spacecraft captured a terrifying “face” on the planet Jupiter. The photo was obtained when Juno flew past the giant planet recently.
Reporting from Space, the chilling image was obtained by Juno on September 7. Juno captured a region at the northern tip of the planet Jupiter that scientists call Jet N7. The area photographed shows swirling clouds and a churning storm resembling an eerie elongated face.
The photo was taken when Juno made its 54th close flight to Jupiter, from an altitude of about 7,700 kilometers. The area photographed is located along Jupiter’s terminator, the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet. That’s what causes Jupiter to appear to fade into the dark background of space.
NASA released the scary photo on October 25. “Jupiter’s swirling clouds appear to form a frowning human face. Half of the image is in darkness on the night side of the planet, almost making the face appear as if it is peering through a door,” NASA said in its description of the image shared on Instagram.
The image was processed by citizen scientist Vladimir Tarasov using raw data from the JunoCam instrument. Juno image available online for the public.
“The low angle of sunlight highlights the complex topographic features of this region, which scientists have studied to better understand the processes occurring in Jupiter’s atmosphere,” NASA officials said.
Swirling clouds are commonly seen on Jupiter due to the planet’s turbulent weather systems. Powerful storms in Jupiter’s atmosphere trigger powerful jet stream winds that create cyclones. Cyclones circulate clockwise, and there are also anticyclones which circulate counterclockwise.
From Juno’s perspective two sunken eyes, an aquiline nose, and pouting lips appeared behind swirling clouds. The photo does look terrible.
“As is often the case with views from Juno, Jupiter’s clouds in this image are prone to pareidolia, an effect that causes observers to see faces or other patterns in a largely random pattern,” NASA officials said.
2023-11-02 14:03:00
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