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New Images of Jupiter From Cassini
Mike Parsons writes "BBC News is showing some new images of Jupiter recorded by the cameras from the Cassini spacecraft. Here is a quote: Cloudy belts and zones dominate Jupiter's appearance - the darker belts alternating with lighter zones. Scientists think the pale zones are areas of rising atmosphere, partly because many clouds on Earth form where atmosphere rises. Conversely, the dark belts have been viewed as areas where the atmosphere descends. However, pictures from the Cassini spacecraft tell a different story."
The Cassini probe visited Jupiter about a year ago IIRC. Perhaps "new analysis" would be more appropriate rather than new pictures.
:-)
BTW, its primary mission is Saturn, but passed by Jup to speed it up to shorten the journey. It stole some orbital energy from Jup. You have to be a brave probe to steal from the biggest planet. Wait until Jup finds out
Table-ized A.I.
In as much as Cassini never got all that terribly close to Jupiter (it just barely slipped inside the magnetosphere, which is huge), I don't think you're seeing Cassini's best work. At Saturn, it will be in orbit, which means it will get a lot closer to the planet.
Even if its instruments were only of Voyager quality (and they aren't, they're better), it would still be a very useful mission simply because it will be able to take a lot more data over it's lifetime.
A little more recent: Cassini took it's first picture of Saturn! It is 285 million km from the planet, and if it can get images that good then I can't wait to see what it returns when it gets there!
... )
(My best attempt at taking a picture of Saturn is here - hmpf