Voting
Welcome!
Juno is in a 53-day orbit. When it passes close to Jupiter (“PeriJove”
or “PJ”) we will take as many pictures as we can. The number of pictures that we take is
limited by the amount of onboard data storage that we have for JunoCam, so we
have to be selective. The images are
collected as we go from the north pole of Jupiter to the south pole, which
happens in a brief 2 hour portion of the orbit.
On any given perijove pass we will only be able to image targets in a
narrow swath of territory the spacecraft flies over (“groundtrack”).
Juno’s orbit geometry is evolving so we will carry out campaigns rather than voting on specific targets. Campaigns are focused on a specific science theme and take advantage of the changes in lighting.
Juno’s orbit geometry is evolving so we will carry out campaigns rather than voting on specific targets. Campaigns are focused on a specific science theme and take advantage of the changes in lighting.
What happened to Voting?
Up through PJ8 everyone could vote on their favorite Point
of Interest (POI) and those rounds can be viewed here. Changes in the orbit and mission plan mean
that we are no longer selecting targets by vote.
There will still be a voting page for every orbit and we will describe the specifics of each perijove pass such as the spacecraft orientation. Because of the challenges to predict the Points of Interest that will be in the JunoCam field of view we are now timing the image collection by latitude and/or executing campaigns.
There will still be a voting page for every orbit and we will describe the specifics of each perijove pass such as the spacecraft orientation. Because of the challenges to predict the Points of Interest that will be in the JunoCam field of view we are now timing the image collection by latitude and/or executing campaigns.
Target Selection
We will take polar images on every PJ pass to assemble
timelapse sequences to study the dynamics of the circumpolar cyclones. Between the north and south pole images will
be timed to get complete latitudinal coverage.
The rest of the resources will be used for campaigns. Options are to look for lightning, take multiple methane images to study high altitude hazes, study Jupiter’s ring, take stereo pairs for cloud altitudes, image Galilean moons when available, etc. We will keep the Voting Round discussion for comments on what would be best. We are hoping that you enjoy being a part of this process, that you enjoy being a member of the JunoCam team.
The rest of the resources will be used for campaigns. Options are to look for lightning, take multiple methane images to study high altitude hazes, study Jupiter’s ring, take stereo pairs for cloud altitudes, image Galilean moons when available, etc. We will keep the Voting Round discussion for comments on what would be best. We are hoping that you enjoy being a part of this process, that you enjoy being a member of the JunoCam team.
Voting Round :
PJ7 ENCOUNTER
CLOSED : 2017-07-03 17:00:00
Perijove on : 2017-07-11 01:55 UT
In this perijove pass the Juno spacecraft will fly over the Great Red Spot (GRS), a storm that has been churning for centuries. We will set aside enough data volume for a close image directly over this storm. The rest is up to you! We think that the atmosphere north and south of the Great Red Spot is very interesting also, so we expect lots of advocacy for those points of interest. We will take some standard images of the north and south poles, but we will do only minimal time-lapse imaging, to conserve data volume for the GRS and its environs. Data volume is somewhat limited on this perijove pass because the spacecraft will be in an orientation that is favorable for Juno's microwave radiometer to study the GRS. In this orientation we don't have a real-time downlink connection to earth, so the number of images we can take is limited by the JunoCam buffer size.
About Perijove Predict Maps
Every perijove pass we have the challenge of predicting where Points of Interest will be as the different zones of the planet have different wind velocities. This map shows our effort to rotate the latitudinal zones with their different wind speeds to predict what will be under the Juno groundtrack.
A little more information: We "target" the JunoCam images based solely on timing. The timing of an image is set to acquire a given latitude. Ordinarily we accept that drift rates of storms are not well-known, and we may or may not actually image a specific feature for that reason. In this case the position of the GRS is extremely well-known, and latest predicts show that we will pass directly over the center. That means that we actually will not image the POI's to the east and west of the GRS, even though they have been included in the "selected" list due to being at ~the same latitude.
Late Update: We needed to adjust the timing of the Great Red Spot images a little bit, and that meant that we lost the image of POI: "End of the White Highway". This is not unusual - we make adjustments as our knowledge of the spacecraft trajectory improves. We were able to add "Juno Eye" to use the freed-up data volume.
Bold circles show the final selected targets.
The focus on this pass is the Great Red Spot (GRS). We will be taking images of the northern edge, the GRS itself, and the view from the south. These three images will include the POIs “The Great Red Spot”, “Within the wake of the Great Red Spot”, “Edge of Great Red Spot”, “Wake”, “Lower Great Red Spot Atmospheric Flow”, and “Fractured Boundary”. Not surprisingly these targets got the most votes. As in the past we were able to combine some other targets. The other high vote-getters we were able to fit into the available data volume are: “Flower Moon” + “Dark Clouds”; “White Spot B”; “Complex High Contrast”; “Hot Spot Tail” + “Hot Spot”; “Mortyland” + “Edge of the White Highway”; and “Tan Seashore”.
Late Update: We needed to adjust the timing of the Great Red Spot images a little bit, and that meant that we lost the image of POI: "End of the White Highway". This is not unusual - we make adjustments as our knowledge of the spacecraft trajectory improves. We were able to add "Juno Eye" to use the freed-up data volume.
Bold circles show the final selected targets.
The focus on this pass is the Great Red Spot (GRS). We will be taking images of the northern edge, the GRS itself, and the view from the south. These three images will include the POIs “The Great Red Spot”, “Within the wake of the Great Red Spot”, “Edge of Great Red Spot”, “Wake”, “Lower Great Red Spot Atmospheric Flow”, and “Fractured Boundary”. Not surprisingly these targets got the most votes. As in the past we were able to combine some other targets. The other high vote-getters we were able to fit into the available data volume are: “Flower Moon” + “Dark Clouds”; “White Spot B”; “Complex High Contrast”; “Hot Spot Tail” + “Hot Spot”; “Mortyland” + “Edge of the White Highway”; and “Tan Seashore”.
Candidate Points of Interest
Voting has closed for this round. View results in the Candidates list below. Be sure to keep an eye on the Processing Gallery for images of POIs/Campaigns selected during this round of voting taken by the JunoCam!
Cylindrical map generated from data submitted via the JunoCam Planning section.
Round Discussion
General discussion about this round.
7 Comments
It was rather difficult to vote this time - of course extensive coverage of the GRS is desired but there are also lots of additional interesting features. I'd really have needed five votes ;-).
Hopefully complete longitudinal and latitudinal coverage of the GRS and also its periphery is possible because the GRS periphery is also very interesting. Thunderheads and turbulent features have been observed by earlier spacecraft in the north and northwest periphery. Elongated whitish clouds casting shadows were also imaged by the Voyager spacecraft in the GRS northeast periphery where wind speeds are very high.
I'm so glad the flybys are giving us an early opportunity to look at the GRS. Let's hope tons of information comes from this flyby.
I would like to make a different request for the team to consider. The discovery that Jupiter's gravity is "knobby" with varying intensities and forms is fascinating. I suggest a focused effort delving into the large, was it describes as "mountain", of higher concentrated gravity. Put all your instruments on it. Dig deep beneath the cloud cover and within. What's causing this? Is it a fast moving whirlpool within a molten core? Is it an altogether new and unimagined gravity engine?
I vote for spending time both in orbit and in the office exploring this puzzling phenomenon.
Thanks for the opportunity to have a voice.
What's not to love about the Great Red Spot, but I think some of the most spectacular images of Jupiter's atmosphere have come from the northern mid-latitudes. I'm casting my vote for two of those POI's. Also, I'd like to see what the tiny thunderstorms in the South Tropical Zone are doing.