November 21, 1997
On your birthday, the Earth completed another orbit — 584 million miles traveled since your last celebration.
Jupiter: Moon, Ring, and Clouds
Birthday · November 21, 1997
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published November 21, 1997. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
An inner moon, an edge-on, planet-girdling ring, and high altitude cloud bands are visible in this mosaic of infrared images of gas giant Jupiter. The moon Metis, 25 miles wide and about 80,000 miles from the planet, is the bright spot at the upper right. Metis lies within Jupiter's faint, tenuous ring, and may be a source of ring material. Recorded on September 17th by the NICMOS instrument on board the Hubble Space Telescope, these pictures also emphasize atmospheric features high above the main jovian cloud deck. Methane gas in Jupiter's atmosphere absorbs the near infrared light causing deeper clouds to appear dark at these wavelengths. Clouds riding above most of the atmospheric methane are bright. The circular dark spot just above the brightest cloud band is an image artifact.