Scientists find odd and amazing cyclones at Jupiter’s poles

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM

Scientists studying data from NASA's Juno spacecraft have published a trove of papers in Nature this week, making a number of intriguing and surprising findings about the atmosphere of the largest planet in our Solar System. The papers are summarized and linked in this NASA news release.

Some of the most striking discoveries come from visible and infrared observations made by Juno during its first five science passes in its elongated orbit around Jupiter. (The spacecraft entered Jupiter's orbit on July 4, 2016. It will make its 11th pass on April 1.) In these initial passes, scientists found clusters of strange and long-lasting cyclones orbiting the north and south poles of Jupiter.

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