This is a composite of several images taken in several colors by the New
Horizons Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera, or MVIC. It illustrates the
remarkable diversity of structures in Jupiter's atmosphere, in colors
similar to what someone "riding" on New Horizons would see. It was taken
near the terminator, the boundary between day and night, and shows
relatively small-scale, turbulent, whirlpool-like structures near the
south pole of the planet. The dark "holes" in this region are actually
places where there is very little cloud cover, so sunlight is not
reflected back to the camera. Moving toward the equator, the atmospheric
structures become more elongated in an east-west direction, taking on the
familiar pattern of dark "belts" and light "zones." At the equator itself,
a herringbone pattern of clouds known as "mesoscale waves" is apparent,
especially near the edge of the terminator where the glancing angle of
sunlight emphasizes the alternating dark and light North-South stripes.
The energy to form these waves comes from deeper in Jupiter's atmosphere.
This picture provides a vivid illustration that Jupiter's atmosphere has
more color contrast than any other atmosphere in the solar system,
including Earth's. Data obtained from these and other New Horizons images
taken during the encounter will provide valuable insight into the
processes occurring on this gas giant.
