Juno Spacecraft's First Image From Orbit Around Jupiter
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent an image of Jupiter and three of
its moons. It’s the first spacescape returned after the probe’s daring plunge
through Jupiter’s lethal radiation belts.
Details:
- Juno took the photo while it was 2.7 million miles away from the solar system’s biggest planet.
- In it, Jupiter’s beautiful atmospheric bands and shrinking Great Red Spot are visible. Also shown, hanging against the cosmic black, are three of the planet’s four Galilean moons-volcanic Io, humongous Ganymede, and watery Europa.
Background:
Juno was launched nearly five years ago on a mission to study
Jupiter’s composition and evolution. It’s the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter
since Galileo. Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit recently,
after a five year journey.
Other details:
- The Juno spacecraft – named after the Roman goddess and wife of Jupiter – is packed with nine instruments capable of peering into the planet’s heart.
- It will fly 2,600 miles above the cloud tops – 3,000 miles closer to the surface than any other mission has ever achieved.
- Juno became the first spacecraft to cruise this far out into the solar system powered solely by the sun, beating Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft. A trio of massive solar wings sticks out from Juno like blades from a windmill, generating 500 watts of power to run its nine instruments.
- Juno, built by Lockheed Martin, is an armored spacecraft – its computer and electronics are locked in a titanium vault to shield them from harmful radiation. Even so, Juno is expected to get blasted with radiation equal to more than 100 million dental X-rays during the mission.
