NASA releases image of Jovian clouds in stunning shades of blue captured by the Juno spacecraft.

NASA has released an image of blue cloud formations on Jupiter captured by the JunoCam imaging instrument on board the Juno spacecraft. The image was captured from a distance of 18,906 kilometers above the cloudtops of the gas giant. The region captured by the image is in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter. Due to the angle of the Sun with respect to the planet, some of the clouds in the higher altitudes can be seen casting shadows on the lower clouds. The image was captured on 24 October.

The image was processed by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran. The JunoCam imaging instrument on board the Juno spacecraft is not a scientific instrument as such, but instead specifically conceived to increase public participation in the NASA mission to Jupiter. Those following the mission can select interesting sites to image during the orbits of the spacecraft, and then process the resulting raw images. This particular image was captured during Juno's ninth close flyby.

The JunoCam has previously been used to capture the southern hemisphere of Jupiter in stunning detail, a pale white storm which is a part of a series of storms known as the "String of Pearls", as well as a massive storm raging in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter.