Jupiter is ready for its close up: NASA’s Juno releases treasure trove of images

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has released its latest dispatch of images of Jupiter. The pictures were snapped at a time when the stormy planet is not visible to astronomers on Earth, making them a unique addition to the gallery.

NASA’s release of the so-called “marble movie” shows that Jupiter is such a pretty planet, it doesn’t need a filter other than for methane. The phrase “marble movie” refers to the size of Jupiter in the images and how small it looks.

The timing of these images is also unique as they show Jupiter during a time when it would normally be invisible to NASA’s ground support. During a period of the year, Jupiter’s orbit brings it too close to the sun to be visible from Earth, leaving astronomers in the dark. However, JunoCam continued to take a picture every 15 minutes.

For viewers who wish to see Jupiter during its private time, NASA has taken the liberty of dividing the 1,744 images into two ZIP files that are available to download.