Watch the king of the planets turn on its throne

The visible camera on NASA’s Juno spacecraft is capturing a time-lapse movie of Jupiter and its four largest moons as the orbiter dives toward the giant planet for a 4 July rendezvous, and officials have released a first taste of the views armchair scientists and space enthusiasts can anticipate over the coming weeks and months.

Extended oval storms known as “brown barges” are occasionally seen in Jupiter’s North and South Equatorial Belts, but they tend to blend into the surrounding area and are difficult to spot. NASA’s Juno spacecraft recently captured a clear view of a brown barge in the southern belt.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft now orbiting Juno has spotted what could be a new volcano on Io, the innermost Galilean moon, a tortured world featuring hundreds of volcanoes and lava flows powered by Jupiter’s crushing gravity