NASA's Juno spacecraft executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter on August 27 and the agency has released a few images from the transit. One of the most striking ones shows Jupiter's southern aurora and it was captured using an infrared camera on board the spacecraft.


NASA's Juno spacecraft executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter on August 27 and the agency has released a few images from the transit.
One of the most striking ones shows Jupiter's southern aurora and it was captured using an infrared camera on board the spacecraft.
NASA notes, "The planet's southern aurora can hardly be seen from Earth due to our home planet's position in respect to Jupiter's south pole. Juno's unique polar orbit provides the first opportunity to observe this region of the gas-giant planet in detail."
Further describing how the image was captured, NASA explains, "Juno's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper...camera acquired the view at wavelengths ranging from 3.3 to 3.6 microns -- the wavelengths of light emitted by excited hydrogen ions in the polar regions. The view is a mosaic of three images taken just minutes apart from each other, about four hours after the perijove pass while the spacecraft was moving away from Jupiter."
The agency is expected to release many more images from the flyby in the days ahead.