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[APOD: 2025 March 9 – Cyclones at Jupiters North Pole](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250309.html)
[apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2503/JupiterCyclones_Juno_960.jpg ](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250309.html)APOD: 2025 March 9 – Cyclones at Jupiters North Pole Why are there so many cyclones around the north pole of Jupiter? [The topic](solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/347/nasa-juno-findings-jupiters-jet-streams-are-unearthly) is still being researched.
NASA's robotic [Juno mission](science.nasa.gov/mission/juno) orbiting Jupiter
took data in 2018 that was used to construct [this stunning view](photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22335) of the curious cyclones at
Jupiter's north pole.
Measuring the [thermal emission](reddit.com/r/cats/comments/lj1x1o/thermal_cat/#lightbox) from Jovian cloud tops, the [infrared](science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves) observations are not restricted to the [hemisphere illuminated](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160914.html) by sunlight. [They reveal](nature.com/articles/nature25491)
eight cyclonic features that surround
a cyclone about 4,000 kilometers in diameter,
just offset from the giant planet's geographic north pole.
Similar data show a cyclone at the [Jovian south pole](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161025.html)
with five circumpolar cyclones.
The south pole cyclones are slightly larger than their northern
cousins. [Oddly](i.imgur.com/mYiRh.png),
data from the once Saturn-orbiting [Cassini mission](science.nasa.gov/mission/cassini/about-the-mission) has shown that Saturn's [north](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250223.html) and [south pole](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081027.html)s each have only a single cyclonic [storm system](apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130502.html).