Here is our report on Juno’s Perijove-50 (PJ50), which occurred on 2023 April 8, just 3 days before Jupiter was at geocentric solar conjunction. In contrast to the previous 3 perijoves, the planned images at PJ50 were successfully taken and transmitted. The inbound images provide a complete global map when the planet was invisible from Earth. One notable discovery is a new dark ‘hook’ around the following side of the GRS, which is likely to extend into a dark S. Tropical Band preceding the GRS by the time we next see it.
The closeup images confirm that perijove has now moved round to the night side. They show features very close to the terminator, including some cloud shadows and extensive haze. A prominent rainbow band at 40-41°N, and a particularly distinct horizon haze layer seen in the next image, are probaby the same feature seen from different angles.
The report with miniature figures is attached as a PDF. The full-size figures will be in a ZIP file in the next Comment.
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Here are the full-size figures for the PJ50 report.
Here is our report on Juno’s Perijove-50 (PJ50), which occurred on 2023 April 8, just 3 days before Jupiter was at geocentric solar conjunction. In contrast to the previous 3 perijoves, the planned images at PJ50 were successfully taken and transmitted. The inbound images provide a complete global map when the planet was invisible from Earth. One notable discovery is a new dark ‘hook’ around the following side of the GRS, which is likely to extend into a dark S. Tropical Band preceding the GRS by the time we next see it.
The closeup images confirm that perijove has now moved round to the night side. They show features very close to the terminator, including some cloud shadows and extensive haze. A prominent rainbow band at 40-41°N, and a particularly distinct horizon haze layer seen in the next image, are probaby the same feature seen from different angles.
The report with miniature figures is attached as a PDF. The full-size figures will be in a ZIP file in the next Comment.
--John Rogers