Your First Look at Jupiter’s Gorgeous North Pole

(applause and cheering)

[Woman] (speaking over radio) All stations

on Juno (indistinct) we have

the tone for burn cutoff on Delta B.

(indistinct)

Juno, welcome to.

(upbeat music)

[Narrator] You're looking at the first ever

photo of Jupiter's north pole.

Stunning, isn't it?

The image is courtesy of the Juno spacecraft,

which made its first flyby of the gas giant.

Not only is it a beautiful scene,

but it doesn't look anything like the rest of the planet.

Its clouds a bluer than elsewhere, for instance.

The north pole also seems to be surprisingly stormy.

And the clouds here might be casting shadows,

suggesting that they're flying

at a higher altitude than the surrounding things.

That's because the sun is still hitting

the clouds even as it's setting.

Now, Jupiter's gas giant cousin Saturn

has this huge hexagon formation at its north pole.

But not Jupiter.

Why?

That'll be a mystery Juno might help to unravel.

Juno isn't just snapping photos in visible light.

It's packed with all manner of other instruments.

Check out this infrared shot

of the aurora at Jupiter's south pole.

Juno has also picked up the aurora's radio signals.

This haunting whale is what it sounds like

when you convert those signals to noise.

(high screeching)

So, all told, the spacecraft will do

three dozen more close approaches,

so get ready to see a lot more

of Jupiter in the coming months.

Hello, beautiful.

(upbeat music)