Jupiter Movie Shows High Clouds

Jupiter Movie Shows High Clouds

December 11, 2000

Contact:


Guy Webster, JPL, (818) 354-6278


Lori Stiles, University of Arizona, (520) 626-4402

Jupiter's high-altitude clouds scoot and swirl in a brief movie clip
assembled from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now approaching
the giant planet.

In the part of the spectrum used for the images, high clouds appear
bright. Some small clouds brighten rapidly, suggesting strong upward
movement, such as that seen in thunderstorms.

The images are available from NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., at

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/jupiter

and from the web site of the Cassini Imaging Science team at
the University of Arizona, Tucson, at

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/.

Cassini will pass most closely to Jupiter, at a flyby
distance of about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles), 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. More information on the
joint Cassini-Galileo observations is available at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby.

Additional information about Cassini is available online at:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini and Galileo missions for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Media Relations Office

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technology

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Pasadena, Calif. 91109.

Telephone (818) 354-5011