Ahead of Halloween, NASA has released a photo of a ghoulish face spotted on the planet Jupiter.
The photo was taken by one of its probes orbiting the planet during its 54th close fly-by last month.
The snap shows Jupiter’s clouds forming into an unusual pattern that resembles eyes, nose and a mouth.
NASA said the darkness on the right-hand side of the image only adds to its creepiness.
In a statement, NASA said: “On Sept. 7, 2023, during its 54th close fly-by of Jupiter, NASA’s Juno mission captured this view of an area in the giant planet’s far northern regions called Jet N7.
“The image shows turbulent clouds and storms along Jupiter’s terminator, the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet.
“The low angle of sunlight highlights the complex topography of features in this region, which scientists have studied to better understand the processes playing out in Jupiter’s atmosphere.”
They added: “As often occurs in views from Juno, Jupiter’s clouds in this picture lend themselves to pareidolia, the effect that causes observers to perceive faces or other patterns in largely random patterns.”
The image was created by citizen scientist Vladimir Tarasov who made the picture using “raw data captured from the JunoCam instrument”.
NASA said: “At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 4,800 miles (about 7,700 kilometres) above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 69 degrees north.”
The Mail reported that NASA also said: “Just in time for Halloween, NASA’s Juno mission spots eerie ‘face’ on Jupiter.”
NASA’s photograph of the planet is a side product of its mission to the gaseous giant.
The aim of NASA’s mission is to study the composition of Jupiter and its polar magnetosphere.
The Juno probe has also reportedly been monitoring the planet’s atmosphere, moons and weather.
After the mission is over, the probe will be guided onto Jupiter where it will disintegrate.
