“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
— Arthur C. Clarke
 

JUPITER

Jupiter's signature stripes and swirls are actually cold, windy clouds of ammonia and water, floating in an atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. The dark orange stripes are called belts, while the lighter bands are called zones, and they flow east and west in opposite directions. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a giant storm bigger than Earth that has raged for hundreds of years.

The king of planets was named for Jupiter, king of the gods in Roman mythology. Most of its moons are also named for mythological characters, figures associated with Jupiter or his Greek counterpart, Zeus.

Captured by the NASA Juno Probe, the RAW data for this image was obtained from JunoCam with post-processing carried out in WinJupos, PixInsight, Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop.

This image, any many more, will be on display and available for purchase at my market stall at the Alkimos Night Market, Bathers Park, Alkimos Beach on Saturday 21 December 2024.

For more information on this image, and many more, please visit the ‘galaxies’, ‘nebulae’, ‘nightscapes’ and ‘planets’ galleries via the navigation panel at the top of this page.

Social Media

Follow me on my astrophotography journey by connecting through Instagram and Facebook (@grahamconatyastro).

The ‘Kalgoorlie Nights - Volume 1’ wallpaper pack for mobile phones is now available to purchase via my online store. . Captured from the backyard in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, ‘Kalgoorlie Nights - Volume 1’ contains the f
The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters or Messier 45, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. . In many Australian Aboriginal cultures, the Pleiades are a
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in our solar system. Adorned with a dazzling system of icy rings, Saturn is unique among the planets. . It is not the only planet to have rings, but none are as spectacular or as c
NGC2264, also known as the Christmas Tree Cluster, is a star-forming region located in the constellation Monoceros. Located at a distance of around 2,600 light-years from Earth, it is a fascinating and visually striking celestial object that contains
NGC 3576, also known as the Statue Of Liberty Nebula, is a bright emission nebula located in the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way. . It lies at a distance of around 9,800 light-years from Earth and spans more than 100 light-years across making it one
The Whirlpool Galaxy, also known as Messier 51A, M51A, and NGC 5194, is an interacting grand-design spiral galaxy with a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus. It lies in the constellation Canes Venatici, and was the first galaxy to be classified as a sp