Jaw-dropping Jupiter stars in new data from NASA’s Juno

Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images of Jupiter during Juno’s 62nd perigee on June 12, 2024, courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS.

NASA’s billion-dollar spacecraft, Juno, has sent back far more impressive images of the Jupiter system.

The solar-powered probe has been orbiting the giant planet since 2016. Its highly elliptical orbit means it spends most of its time far from Jupiter’s cloud tops. About once a month, it approaches the polar regions of the planet, and then its camera turns on.

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On June 14, Juno was 62. feather (close flyby) and in the following days the data collected by JunoCam was transmitted back to Earth via NASA’s Deep Space Network. Although the Juno mission has no dedicated image processing team, citizen scientists around the world have immediate access to raw JunoCam data. Some of these images are collected here.

The new images returned include some of Io, a moon of Jupiter and the most volcanic body in the Solar System. One image appears to capture a plume of sulfur reaching hundreds of miles into space. The moon is pulled in different directions during its orbit by the gravity of Jupiter and its three other large moons. The accumulated frictional heat in its interior causes constant and widespread volcanic activity. Io was recently imaged from Earth.

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Juno carries 11 science instruments designed to study the Jovian system. During his mission, he found evidence of Earth-sized storms and a chaotic magnetic field. Jupiter’s familiar pinkish streaks extend deep into its atmosphere, and the gaseous planet’s core is larger than previously thought.

Since arriving at Jupiter in 2016, Juno has made close flybys of Jupiter’s three giant Galilean moons—Europa, Ganymede, and Io—with JunoCam capturing some of the best images ever of these worlds. However, it was unable to visit its fourth giant moon, Callisto.

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Callisto will not remain unexplored for long. With Juno’s expected demise next year, there will be no spacecraft in orbit around the giant planet for several years. However, two arrive in the early 1930s. NASA’s Europa Clipper will travel around Jupiter’s moons in 2030 and focus on Europa, while the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy probe will arrive in 2031 and fly close to Callisto 21 times before finally orbiting Ganymede.

Juno is 63 feather will occur on July 17, and its mission will conclude on September 15, 2025, when Juno will perform its “death plunge” into the gas giant during its 76th flyby. feather.

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