Planets and Moons  ID: 11417

Earth Flyby

Story by Kayvon Sharghi Released on December 31, 2013
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A NASA spacecraft glides past Earth on its way to Jupiter.
In October 2013, NASA’s Juno spacecraft came within 47,000 miles of Earth’s surface while performing a flyby maneuver that put it on a final trajectory for Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. Juno launched in 2011 and was able to reach the asteroid belt before being pulled back toward Earth by the sun’s gravity. To escape the sun’s pull, the spacecraft had to return to Earth and use the planet’s gravity to boost its speed. As Juno approached Earth, an instrument aboard the spacecraft captured a series of images of our planet and the moon over four days. The views, which start from a distance of 2.1 million miles away and get progressively closer, offer a unique look at Earth at varying scale. Watch the video to see for yourself.
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Images of Earth and the moon taken by Juno are shown in this video at 1x, 2x and 8x magnification.
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This video shows Juno’s flight path to Jupiter, beginning with its launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in 2011.
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This image, taken from a simulation of the flyby, shows Juno approaching Earth.
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Part of South America and the Pacific Ocean are seen in this composite image of Earth taken by Juno during the flyby.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Lead Writer:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Cover image and flyby video courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech
Flight path animation courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
Earth image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11417

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