Planetary Picture of the Day
Week of December 6, 2021
Take a deep breath and take in the views from around the solar system, from close-ups revealing unexpected detail to images that capture new perspectives.
Monday, December 6, 2021
Jupiter in Detail
Jaw-dropping detail of several storms on Jupiter. While the precise scale is unknown, the Earth likely fits in the round white storm (possibly one of the String of Pearls set of storms), and the smaller white puffs are about the size of a large thunderstorm on Earth. Taken by JunoCam during perijove 38.
Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Image Processing: Donald E. Davis (https://buff.ly/3lJ1QoM)
Earth and Moon
Absolutely outstanding processing of Lunar Orbiter 4 123 M view of the Moon and the Earth. Wow! It was inserted in lunar orbit on May 8, 1967. Its role was to perform a broad photographic survey to prepare for the Apollo mission. What a view!
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
Enceladus
A view of Saturn's moon Enceladus made from images acquired by the Cassini spacecraft on December 2, 2008, from a distance of about 126,000 km.
Thursday, December 9, 2021
In Saturn's Rings
Saturn's rings are only about 10 meters (30 feet) thick. They are made from chunks of mostly water ice that range in size from dust specks to the scale of mountains. Fifteen years ago, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of the sunlit portion of Saturn through the curtain of the planet's rings.
Friday, December 10, 2021
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
Cloudy Close-up
This image shows the amazing detail of individual clouds in the atmosphere of Jupiter. This was captured by JunoCam during Perijove 38. On average, individual clouds are a little under 60 kilometers (37 miles) wide.
