‘Eerie’ ghoul or cosmic Picasso? Face spotted on Jupiter’s stormy surface

A ghoulish face has been spotted on Jupiter.

A space watcher noticed an unusual pattern in storm clouds on the largest planet in the solar system.

Citizen scientist Vladimir Tarasov processed data from Nasa’s Juno spacecraft to reveal what appears to be contorted eyes, nose and a mouth.

‘Just in time for Halloween, Nasa’s Juno mission spots eerie “face” on Jupiter,’ a statement from the space agency read.

‘On September 7, 2023, during its 54th close flyby of Jupiter, Nasa’s Juno mission captured this view of an area in the giant planet’s far northern regions called Jet N7.

‘The image shows turbulent clouds and storms along Jupiter’s terminator, the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet.

‘The low angle of sunlight highlights the complex topography of features in this region, which scientists have studied to better understand the processes playing out in Jupiter’s atmosphere.’

The statement added: ‘As often occurs in views from Juno, Jupiter’s clouds in this picture lend themselves to pareidolia, the effect that causes observers to perceive faces or other patterns in largely random patterns.’

Mr Tarasov made the image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument.

At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 4,800 miles above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 69 degrees north.

Nasa said JunoCam’s raw images are available for the public to peruse and process into image products.

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