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Stunning, Detailed New Image of Jupiter

darenw writes "From the Cassini spacecraft's flyby of Jupiter in late 2001, a new mosaic image has been assembled, revealing a stunning amount of detail, beautiful waves, swirls and spots in Jupiter's atmosphere. Get the story and images at the Cassini imaging team website." This is a huge image. My eyeball guess is that each pixel is the size of Pennsylvania.

47 comments

  1. I'm just wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    why can't we ever get a "stunning, detailed new image" of Jennifer Connolly's breasts around here for a change?

    1. Re:I'm just wondering... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      She just wasn't the same after the reduction surgery.

  2. Jupiter looks like it would taste good by ivanmarsh · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Yum

  3. fakes by eyeball · · Score: 3, Funny

    I can just see the people that say the moon landings were fake now... "Those images of Jupiter can't be real. There aren't any stars in the background!"

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    1. Re:fakes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but the moon landing's WERE faked.

      FOX told us so, right after Homer J. Simpson told us beer for breakfast was the best thing ever for a nuclear power plant operator. :)

    2. Re:fakes by orthogonal · · Score: 4, Funny

      I can just see the people that say the moon landings were fake now... "Those images of Jupiter can't be real. There aren't any stars in the background!"

      This image of Jupiter is an obvious fake. There's no monolith full of stars in the foreground.

  4. WOW... by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    am I glad I got there before this article appeared on slashdot... that's an awesome image and is now my desktop wallpaper... I'll be printing it out onto high quality paper later to hang on the wall... Next stop Saturn... set your calendars for July 2004... With images like this one from Jupiter, Saturn is going to be absolutely awesome... I'd love to see them fly it between the rings and Saturn itself to get the shot to end all shots...

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    1. Re:WOW... by Gleng · · Score: 1
      I'd love to see them fly it between the rings and Saturn itself to get the shot to end all shots...

      Yeah, I think that WOULD be the last shot. :)

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  5. /.'d? by Rtsbasic · · Score: 0

    Thanks ever so much Slashdot, I almost thought I had myself a cool wallpaper there ;) Anyone get a mirror?

  6. oh man... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you are such a nerd.

    1. Re:oh man... by Mrs.+Neutron · · Score: 1

      I think that's a compliment on this site.

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    2. Re:oh man... by advocate_one · · Score: 1
      "I think that's a compliment on this site."

      Yes... I'll gladly admit being a "nerd"... I've been a "Nerd" all my life... Yup... I watched eyes agog as Armstrong walked on the moon... I was given special permission to stay up late (3 in the morning for us Limeys) and the nerdy thing is that I knew right then that the major accomplishment that had actually happened then was not the fact that there was a man walking on the moon. No, it was the fact that anybody, anywher on the Earth who had access to a television set, could watch live as it happened... that was the single greatest accomplishement right then. We had become a Global Village right then at that moment.

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  7. Mirror by fredrikj · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hmm, I didn't have any trouble accessing this myself... but seeing as others did, here's a mirror of the fullsize JPEG version.

  8. No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by dnahelix · · Score: 3, Informative

    "My eyeball guess is that each pixel is the size of Pennsylvania."

    This is from the article: (right next to the link for the pictures)

    "It is the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced; the smallest visible features are ~ 60 km (37 miles) across."
    So, your 'guess' is waaaaay off.

    It's unbelievable that someone would submit an article WITHOUT ACTUALLY READING IT FIRST.

    And, btw, there are pictures of sections of Jupiter with greater detail, this just happens to be the global picture with the finest detail. Also, the pictures have been somewhat manipulated and it could be argued that this is a computer generated image, using photographed textures. It's all in the article. pffffftt.

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  9. Featured on APOD today by embobo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    One of the images was featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site, so they have a mirror.


  10. Neat-o by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yes, let's fly the spaceship right between the miniature asteroid belts. Rad idea.

    1. Re:Neat-o by advocate_one · · Score: 1

      There is a simply s0dding enormous gap between Saturn's upper atmosphere and the lowest edge of the rings... some 6730 Km.

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  11. What? by WTFmonkey · · Score: 1

    No pictures of giant gasbag life forms? No airplane-shaped predators? No city-sized jellyfish? Phhbbt, I want a refund.

  12. That's no moon! by zangdesign · · Score: 1

    somebody had to say it. might as well be me.

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  13. Wallpaper hint by WTFmonkey · · Score: 2, Informative

    This picture fits perfectly (and looks really cool) if you rotate it 90 degrees clockwise first.

    1. Re:Wallpaper hint by Rtsbasic · · Score: 0

      True, but my point was at the time I was unable to access the site so I couldn't see it. Now I'm able to access it I do agree it looks better rotated.

  14. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by dnahelix · · Score: 1

    Here's one...(4.4 MB)

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  15. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's unbelievable that someone would submit an article WITHOUT ACTUALLY READING IT FIRST.
    You must be new around here...
  16. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    It's unbelievable that someone would submit an article WITHOUT ACTUALLY READING IT FIRST.
    Don't blame the submitter. Blame the editor. She's the one that put in that comment (editor comments are non-italicized).
  17. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by dnahelix · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the info, too bad that makes it seem EVEN WORSE
    It's unbelievable that AN EDITOR would POST an article WITHOUT ACTUALLY READING IT FIRST.
    I guess you get what you pay for!

    Sorry submitter!

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  18. in case you have a telescope by OneOver137 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Jupiter will be well placed in the sky for the next several months. Even a small 2.4" (60mm) scope will show some detail. More info can be found here: http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/plane ts/article_174_1.asp

    1. Re:in case you have a telescope by OneOver137 · · Score: 1

      ok, the link didn't work. Just go to skyandtel.com, click on Observing, Celestial Objects, click on Planets, and scroll down to "A Jupiter Observing Guide."

  19. The far planets are dim. by yo303 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I think we're going to be disappointed when we take tourist trips out to the far planets.

    *All* the images that we've seen, from telescopes through Voyager through Cassini, were exposed for a long time (meaning longer than a second). Were we to actually look at the gas giant planets and their moons with our eyes, they'd be pretty dim. We might get some nice views if we turn all the spaceship lights down, and let our eyes get accustomed to the dark, but I doubt any detail of Pluto would be visible.

    I don't have the energy to work out the actual lux levels; I only barely had the energy to write this post.

    yo.

    1. Re:The far planets are dim. by linzeal · · Score: 1

      So engineer new eyes for the deep space mining crews.

    2. Re:The far planets are dim. by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they are so dim that you can't see them from earth. No, wait...

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    3. Re:The far planets are dim. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The light levels aren't so bad, they gradually step down to about the level of indoor flourescents by the time you get to Pluto. So, it is dim, but definitely visible, both from its surface and from our observatories.

  20. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Smallest visible features are not the same as the size of each pixel though.

    Let's work out just how big each pixel is:

    The largest image there has about 2240 pixels from the top of jupiter to the bottom. According to this website at NASA, jupiter has a diameter of 142,800 km.

    142800/2240 is 63.75 km per pixel.

    Oh, this works out the same as what it said on the website. Whoops. Ah well, at least you have an independent confirmation.

    Just for the record, Pennsylvania is 309 miles long and 174 miles wide. That's 497 km x 280 km. Let's assume a square Pennsylvania of the same area, and we get 373 km per pixel.

  21. i hope the RTFA Nazi doesn't get me by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

    but, are those white spots underneath the "spot" scars from the comet that slammed into it a few years back?

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    1. Re:i hope the RTFA Nazi doesn't get me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      No.

      BTW, RTFA next time.

  22. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure assuming Pennsylvania is square is that far off, to be honest. Have you been to Pennsylvania?

  23. Re:No Need to 'Eyeball Guess', stupid. Just RTFA! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nope, I've never been to America. Is it nice there?

  24. Scale map by Alsee · · Score: 0

    each pixel is the size of Pennsylvania

    I have a map of Jupiter. The scale is one inch equals one inch.

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  25. a dnahelix with no useful information. by twitter · · Score: 1
    Quoth dnahelix:

    there are pictures of sections of Jupiter with greater detail, this just happens to be the global picture with the finest detail. Also, the pictures have been somewhat manipulated and it could be argued that this is a computer generated image, using photographed textures. It's all in the article. pffffftt.

    Well, farts in your face too. I enjoyed the pictures and did not mind the editor speculating about the size of Pennsylvania. Care to link to any of those nicer pictures or tell us where they came from?

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  26. testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    1. Re:testing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0