Cyclones near Jupiter’s North Pole

Cyclones near Jupiter’s North Pole. Credit NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, ASI, INAF, JIRAM

Scientists are still studying why there are so many cyclones near Jupiter‘s north pole.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured data in 2018, creating this striking image of Jupiter’s polar cyclones.

Infrared measurements, which detect heat rather than sunlight, show eight cyclones surrounding a central one about 4,000 kilometers wide, slightly off-center from the north pole. Similar data from Jupiter’s south pole reveal a central cyclone with five surrounding storms, which are slightly larger than those in the north.

Interestingly, Saturn’s poles each have just one large cyclone, as observed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

source APOD