New Images of Jupiter from Juno

Juno has sent back additional images showing Jupiter up close.  It includes the "never-before-seen perspective" on Jupiter's south pole, shown below.  Go here for more from NASA. 

Juno Completes First Jupiter Flyby

NASA reported that the Juno spacecraft completed its first of 36 planned flybys of Jupiter.

Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, stated:

We are getting some intriguing early data returns as we speak...It will take days for all the science data collected during the flyby to be downlinked and even more to begin to comprehend what Juno and Jupiter are trying to tell us.

The image above is the first of many coming our way. 

Great image: Juno's Insertion

This impressive image is a digital painting created by Mathias Verhasselt depicting Juno during its orbital insertion burn over Jupiter.  You can find an assortment of similarly fascinating images at the Bruce Murray Space Image Library on The Planetary Society's website. 

Great Image: Juno Approaching Jupiter

NASA has released the first images showing the Juno spacecraft's view of Jupiter and its surroundings. The picture, taken July 10, shows Jupiter and three of its moons, including Europa. Hopefully, we will visit Europa in the near future as a separate mission. 

As with the early images from the Pluto mission last year, this is just the start of some great images. 

Light Show on Jupiter

Good news! The Juno spacecraft is safely in orbit around Jupiter. 

The image above is a composite from the Hubble Space Telescope showing the gas giants amazing auroras just prior to Juno's arrival.

I expect we will learn much more about the unique properties of Jupiter as Juno starts its research mission. 

Stay tuned.

Juno Approaches Jupiter

I remember a lot more excitement about New Horizions approaching Pluto, yet the Juno mission to Jupiter is also an impressive feat.

On July 4th we will have another reason to look up into the sky and celebrate as Juno goes into orbit around Jupiter after a trip that lastest five years. Juno will orbit the planet for about 20 months. 

The goal of the mission is to

...understand the origin and evolution of Jupiter, look for solid planetary core, map magnetic field, measure water and ammonia in deep atmosphere, [and] observe auroras.

That's quite a list of duties and a good reason to stay connected to the mission. So remember to celebrate on the 4th.