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Planetary Picture of the Day - Week of December 6, 2021

Planetary Picture of the Day - Week of December 6, 2021

Collage of the PPOD Images

Planetary Picture of the Day

Week of December 6, 2021

Welcome to our weekly recap of our Planetary Picture of the Day (PPOD)!
Take a deep breath and take in the views from around the solar system, from close-ups revealing unexpected detail to images that capture new perspectives.

 

Monday, December 6, 2021

Detail in Jupiter
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

Jupiter in Detail
Jaw-dropping detail of several storms on Jupiter. While the precise scale is unknown, the Earth likely fits in the round white storm (possibly one of the String of Pearls set of storms), and the smaller white puffs are about the size of a large thunderstorm on Earth. Taken by JunoCam during perijove 38.

 

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Earth and the Moon
Credit Image: NASA
Image Processing: Donald E. Davis (https://buff.ly/3lJ1QoM)

Earth and Moon
Absolutely outstanding processing of Lunar Orbiter 4 123 M view of the Moon and the Earth. Wow! It was inserted in lunar orbit on May 8, 1967. Its role was to perform a broad photographic survey to prepare for the Apollo mission. What a view!

 

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Enceladus
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Cassini Imaging Team/Jason Major

Enceladus
A view of Saturn's moon Enceladus made from images acquired by the Cassini spacecraft on December 2, 2008, from a distance of about 126,000 km.

 

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Close up of Saturn's Rings
Credit Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Cassini Imaging Team/Jason Major

In Saturn's Rings
Saturn's rings are only about 10 meters (30 feet) thick. They are made from chunks of mostly water ice that range in size from dust specks to the scale of mountains. Fifteen years ago, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of the sunlit portion of Saturn through the curtain of the planet's rings.

 

Friday, December 10, 2021

Jupiter's clouds

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

Cloudy Close-up
This image shows the amazing detail of individual clouds in the atmosphere of Jupiter. This was captured by JunoCam during Perijove 38. On average, individual clouds are a little under 60 kilometers (37 miles) wide.

 

 

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