NASA takes a close-up of Jupiter from 6 million miles (10 million km) away

WASHINGTON (AFP) Nov 14, 2003
NASA on Thursday released a new close-up portrait of Jupiter, calling it the most detailed color picture ever taken of the giant planet, photographed by a space probe six million miles (10 million kilometers) away.

"The imaging team wanted very much to take the ultimate picture of Jupiter. The one that would show Jupiter in all its intricate and glorious complexity, the one that would really knock your socks off," said Carolyn Porco, the imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The picture is actually a mosaic of 27 different images, taken from nine different positions and in three colors by the Cassini spacecraft on December 29, 2000, NASA said in a statement.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration edited the pictures into one global image that captured details as small as 60 kilometers (35 miles) wide.

The picture can be seen on NASA's website, and also at the Cassini Imaging Team's website: http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu

SPACE.WIRE