Planets and Moons  ID: 12294

Jupiter Arrival

Story by Kayvon Sharghi Released on July 5, 2016
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NASA’s Juno spacecraft has entered orbit around Jupiter.
After traveling for nearly five years and more than 1.7 billion miles, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Over the next 20 months, the solar-powered spacecraft will circle Jupiter at least three-dozen times, probing the gas giant with a suite of science instruments that will provide new insights about the planet’s atmosphere, internal structure and powerful magnetic field. In addition to these instruments, Juno carries a camera, called JunoCam, that will capture color images of Jupiter’s dense cloud cover and provide an unprecedented look at the planet’s dynamic polar regions. During each orbit, the spacecraft will come within 5,000 miles of Jupiter’s poles, providing opportunities for high-resolution shots taken at close range. Watch the video to see an animation that shows the path of Juno’s orbit around the planet.
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This animation shows Juno’s elongated orbit around Jupiter during the mission's science collection phase.
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Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft to explore Jupiter. Juno's three, 30-foot solar panels are made up of 18,698 individual solar cells.
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Images taken by Juno will provide scientists with the closest look yet at Jupiter’s polar regions.
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The spacecraft's JunoCam camera captured this image of Jupiter and four of its moons from 3.3 million miles away.

Story Credits

Lead Writer:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech Video and images courtesy of NASA/JPL/SwRI

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12294

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons