First close-up photos of Jupiter revealed

NASA published Friday the first-ever images of Jupiter's north pole and its southern aurora, taken during the Juno spacecraft's first orbital flyby of the gaseous giant on August 27.

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NASA unveils photos of Jupiter's poles

AFP –  NASA published Friday the first-ever images of Jupiter's north pole and its southern aurora, taken during the Juno spacecraft's first orbital flyby of the gaseous giant.

"It looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

"The largest planet in our solar system is truly unique. We have 36 more flybys to study just how unique it really is."

A camera dubbed the "JunoCam" took the high-definition images.  It is one of the nine instruments onboard the spacecraft. Juno notably sent the first infrared close-ups of the planet's north and south poles.

This image from NASA's Juno spacecraft provides a never-before-seen perspective on Jupiter's south pole. The JunoCam instrument acquired the view on August 27, 2016, when the spacecraft was about 58,700 miles (94,500 kilometers) above the polar region. / AFP PHOTO / NASA / HO /

"These first infrared views of Jupiter's north and south poles are revealing warm and hot spots that have never been seen before," said Italian Alberto Adriani from Rome.

Adriani is one of the researchers who developed the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) that allowed scientists to acquire the images.

"While we knew that the first-ever infrared views of Jupiter's south pole could reveal the planet's southern aurora, we were amazed to see it for the first time," he said.

Auroras are streamers of light in the sky caused by energy from the sun and electrically charged particles trapped in the magnetic field.

Another Juno instrument recorded sounds from Jupiter – "ghostly-sounding transmissions emanating from the planet," said NASA.

Scientists have known about Jupiter's radio emissions since the 1950s, but had never analyzed them from such a close distance.

"Jupiter is talking to us in a way only gas-giant worlds can," said Bill Kurth, co-investigator from the University of Iowa.

Juno's main mission began in July and is scheduled to end in February 2018, when the probe will self-destruct by diving into the planet's atmosphere.

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