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This image is a polar orthographic mosaic of Jupiter, constructed from three near-infrared images taken at the 5-m Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory on July 23 UT. The wavelength is 2.00 microns, where methane and hydrogen absorption in Jupiter's atmosphere is relatively weak. The image shows Jupiter as it would appear to an observer located below the south pole. The individual images were taken over a period of 6 hours, during which time Jupiter's rapid rotation permitted all 9 visible impact sites to be observed. Clockwise from the top of the picture (at System III longitude = 0), the impact sites are: L, K/W (the prominent hook-shaped feature at 2:30 o'clock), C, A (at 6 o'clock), E/V/F, H, Q1, R, and G/S. (Feature R appears as a faint westward extension to G.) Two bright ovals appear at 30 degrees South and about 225 and 240 degrees longitude, while the Great Red Spot is just visible at the edge of the mosaic at 20 degrees South and longitude 116 degrees.
P. Nicholson, G. Neugebauer, K. Matthews, O. Othman, J. Moersch, J. Goodman, A. Weinberger, T. Hayward, C. McGhee, J. VanCleve, J. Miles and D. Shupe (Cornell University/Caltech/Air & Space Museum).
31 July 1994.
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