The mosaic is actually a single frame from a fourteen frame movie constructed from image data recorded by Cassini during its leisurely flyby of the solar system's largest planet late last year. The engaging movie approximates Jupiter's cloud motions over 24 jovian rotations. To make it, a series of observations covering Jupiter's complete circumference 60 degrees north and south of the equator were combined in an animated cylindrical projection map of the planet. As in the familiar rectangular-shaped wall maps of the Earth's surface , the relative sizes and shapes of features are correct near the equator but become progressively more distorted approaching the polar regions . In the Cassini movie, which also features guest appearances by moons Io and Europa , the smallest cloud structures visible at the equator are about 600 kilometers across.
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