When Jupiter’s Clouds Pop Up

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Caption:

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This detailed, color-enhanced JunoCam image by NASA's Juno spacecraft reveals a complex topography in the cloud tops of Jupiter's northern mid-latitude region. Small, bright "pop-up" clouds in the center of the image rise above the surrounding features, standing out at the tops and edges of the swirling patterns; the darker areas nearby reveal greater depth. Clouds like these are thought to be the tops of the violent thunderstorms at the heart of the "shallow lighting" — high-altitude electrical storms originating where it is too cold for liquid-water clouds to exist — recently discovered by the Juno mission.

Background Info:

JunoCam's raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products at
https://missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing .

More information about Juno is at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu .

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