Finally, the camera's observations of Jupiter are part of an extensive campaign designed to enable scientists to study the dynamics of cloud motion in Jupiter's atmosphere. The campaign includes examining nine different locations on Jupiter's globe and five different atmospheric features. This week's data return returns 9 of 34 total observations performed during the encounter. The Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer fills the remaining time available in this week's playback plan. The observation returns measurements of a white oval in Jupiter's atmosphere.
White ovals are long-lived storms that form between two adjacent zonal jet streams.
Radio signals indicating that an event has occurred on the spacecraft reach the Earth 33 to 50 minutes later, depending on the time of year. For more information on the Galileo spacecraft and its mission to Jupiter, please visit the Galileo home page.