First look at Jupiter’s north pole—bluer and “hardly recognizable”

This week, scientists got their first look at images and data from the Juno spacecraft's initial flyby of Jupiter's polar regions, and they were thrilled to find an entirely different world than the familiar one which exists around the equator.

"It looks like nothing we have seen or imagined before," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "It's bluer in color up there than other parts of the planet, and there are a lot of storms. There is no sign of the latitudinal bands or zone and belts that we are used to—this image is hardly recognizable as Jupiter. We're seeing signs that the clouds have shadows, possibly indicating that the clouds are at a higher altitude than other features."

Planetary scientists also weren't sure whether they'd find a hexagon like the one that exists at Saturn's north pole, but the spacecraft did not observe one (nor a square, pentagon, or other delightful geometric figures). Fortunately the mission has 36 more orbits around Jupiter to understand why one gas giant in the Solar System has a hexagon, and its neighbor does not.