Clouds dance in Jupiter movie clips

Click for movie [.gif, 439Kb]

One clip, from Cassini images taken at uneven time intervals over a five-day period in October, catches winds swirling counterclockwise around Jupiter's Great Red Spot.

Dark and light bands that form horizontal stripes around the planet can be seen rushing in opposite directions to each other. The other clip shows the reverse side of Jupiter, and smooths out the motion of the bands by including some intermediate false frames between real images taken by Cassini.

Cassini will pass most closely to Jupiter, at about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) away, on Dec. 30. It will use a boost from Jupiter's gravity to reach its ultimate destination, Saturn. While near Jupiter, it is studying that planet's atmosphere, magnetic field and rings in collaboration with NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter since Dec. 7, 1995.

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