King planet sits for new portrait

I always try to present geology in the largest sense, and in this case that's the study of planets in general. So look at this wonderful new portrait of Jupiter, compiled from images taken by the passing Cassini spacecraft three years ago on its way to Saturn.

Besides being an awesome sight on its own, Jupiter has profoundly affected the evolution of the solar system including Earth. Of the hundreds of cosmic impact craters on Earth today, most have come from chunks of space matter that Jupiter knocked out of orbit.