JUNO images the Great Red Spot…

If you felt a disturbance in the Force on Wednesday night it’s because the first images JUNO took of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot were released at teatime on that day, a couple of days earlier than expected, and both the astronomy media and the world’s “image processors” went into a feeding frenzy. (I couldn’t because I was stuck at work, but I was able to sneak a look at the images on my phone during my break). The original images are very pretty but quite muted and low contrast, so since they have been released the processors have been working hard to bring out detail, boost contrast and enhance the features around and within the Spot, using a variety of image processing techniques. Some of the results are eye-wateringly dramatic, psychedelic explosions of vivid colour. Others less so. None are “right”, none are “wrong”, they’re all just someone’s personal take on what the images inspired in them.

But the main thing is that NASA, and the JUNO team, actively encouraged members of the public to take their images and basically mess about with them, and have fun with them! I love it when people take the time to work on images like this, it means they’re engaging with a mission, investing a little bit of themselves in it, and “spreading the word” about it too. This is what I do with my Mars rover images, and it’s brilliant to see so many people having fun with the JUNO images. It proves, I think, that space exploration can be inspiring to everyone, not just tech types and science experts. And the joy that has greeted the release of these images is even more welcome because JUNO was almost sent to Jupiter *without* a camera, because its main reason for going there was to take measurements and do observations which showed their results as squiggly lines on graphs and charts – fascinating and exciting to the people involved in that, and as worthy as any image, but not very inspiring for the public. Like it or not, “pretty pictures” from space are what people see and enjoy, and the equation is quite simple: pretty pictures + public support = political funding.

So, a little late to the party, I know, and with most of the buffet already eaten, here are my processed versions of the images. Others’ are much, much better; I don’t care. I had fun making these. They’re not meant to be scientifically accurate or “useful”. They’re just shamelessly pretty pictures. And sometimes that’s enough.

Some people get very sniffy about this kind of thing. They moan and twine that the colours “aren’t real” or “accurate”, as if to say that amateurs shouldn’t bother – or be allowed – to take the images probes sent back and work with them. I wish they wouldn’t be like that. Most aren’t, it has to be said; the VAST majority of people involved on these missions are very encouraging and supportive of the efforts of amateur image processors like myself. But a few are not so keen, and seem to enjoy being critical and a little bit mean. And that’s a shame.

I also wrote a new “astropoem” about this event, which you can read here… click on it to enlarge it…