The five-ring circus around the south pole

2017-01-11 16:52 UT
Credit : NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / John Rogers © cc by
Submitted By : Philosophia-47
Mission Phase : PERIJOVE 3

This is a merged version of Gerald Eichstädt’s projected PJ-3 images centred on the South Pole, as shown in the recently-posted animation. (There may still be some distortions.) As it covers one-third of a jovian day, the circumpolar cyclones (CPCs) are revealed all around the pole, and there are indeed 6 of them, 5 being symmetrically placed around the sixth, central, dark one. There is still some uncertainty in the exact location of the pole, but I believe it must be in the centre of that central cyclone. So Jupiter has a pentagonal (not hexagonal) pattern around its south pole. --John Rogers.