Stunning NASA Juno Image Captures Sunrise and Sunset on Jupiter in One Shot

Juno has been circling our largest neighbor Jupiter for a year and a half now, snapping incredible photos to share with its creators here on Earth—and on its most recent orbit, the spacecraft delivered the goods once again.

On February 7, the camera on board the spacecraft captured this incredible image taken very near the planet's south pole—at 84.9 degrees south latitude. On Earth, that's solidly within Antarctica, more southerly than any bit of ocean. When it captured the image, the spacecraft was flying almost 75,000 miles above the clouds that swirl around the planet.

The image itself is a collation of several different photographs, with the camera using a slightly different exposure level for each. Stitching those images together offers a better view of the region where day and night meet, NASA explained in a caption accompanying the image.

(Terrestrial photographers will recognize the phenomenon—it's the same challenge they face trying to capture details of a relatively dark landscape or building when the image frame also includes a very bright sky.)

Read more: NASA releases treasure trove of incredible new images of Jupiter from its Juno mission

At the time the camera captured the image, Juno was on its eleventh trip skimming over the gas giant's surface. Each loop the spacecraft makes is incredibly lopsided: Juno swings in, grazes the planet from near the north pole to the south pole, then ducks far away to avoid the punishing magnetic field around the planet.

Right now, Juno has two more of these loops scheduled. Then, NASA will have to decide what to do next—whether it's worth it to try to do more science with the spacecraft, or if it's a better use of resources to let Juno go and move on to another project. So these images are worth treasuring while the spacecraft is still chugging away.