NASA highlights psychedelic cyclones of Jupiter in wild image
An "extreme false color" look at Jupiter's crazy storms would fit right in on a tie-dye shirt.
No, you haven't accidentally eaten some funny mushrooms. This trippy view of Jupiter's north pole is a highly processed version of what NASA 's Juno spacecraft saw when checking out the gas giant in 2020.
Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt created the composite image from a selection of Juno views and rendered it in "extreme false color." It looks very different than what the naked eye would see, but the processing gives us a vivid perspective on the planet's wild and stormy atmosphere.
"The huge, persistent cyclone found at Jupiter's north pole is visible at the center of the image, encircled by smaller cyclones that range in size from 2,500 to 2,900 miles (4,000 to 4,600 kilometers)," said NASA in a statement on Tuesday.
NASA makes raw images from Juno available to the public, allowing anyone to play around with processing and enhancing the images.
We've been on a roll with eye-popping Jupiter images lately, including a fresh Hubble Space Telescope portrait and a gorgeous view of the moon Io dropping a shadow over the planet's swirling storms.