Spooky face with a frown captured on Jupiter by NASA's Juno spacecraft

NASA’s Juno mission has captured an image of planet Jupiter that has intrigued everyone. The image was captured on September 7 when NASA’s Juno spacecraft made its 54th close flyby of the planet. The spacecraft took a chilling image of Jupiter’s northern regions called Jet N7.

The eerie image featured huge turbulent clouds and storms resembling a ghost face along the planet’s terminator, which is the line that separates day from night on Jupiter.

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Spooky face-like clouds on Jupiter

The pattern of these clouds as captured by the Juno spacecraft resembles a ghost. People are especially intrigued sinceHalloween is quite near. Images show what appears to be a face with two eyes, a nose and a mouth. These images are also available to the public for further evaluation, said NASA.

The image of these spooky clouds was made by citizen scientist Vladimir Tarasov, as seen from the Juno instrument when it was about 2,400 miles above Jupiter, according to the NASA report.

Scientists said that these clouds on Jupiter led them to pareidolia, which is the effect “that causes observers to perceive faces or other patterns in largely random patterns.”

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Although intriguing, this is not the first time NASA has captured an image of what appears to be a face on a planet. In 1976, NASA captured its well-known “Face on Mars” photo, which turned out to be just an ordinary mesa.

The photo was taken by NASA’s Viking 1 spacecraft. In the image, the carving of eyes, a nose and a mouth seem to appear on the planet.

NASA’s Juno mission

Juno is NASA’s space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter. It was built by Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in August 2011.

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Juno measures Jupiter’s composition, gravitational field, magnetic field, and polar magnetosphere. It also searches for clues about how the planet was formed, including whether it has a rocky core or not. The extensive mission also looks for the amount of water present within the deep atmosphere, mass distribution, and its deep winds, which can speed up to 620 km/h.

It is the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter after the nuclear-powered Galileo orbiter, which orbited the planet from 1995 to 2003.

(With inputs from agencies)

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