Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS of Jupiter during Juno’s 62nd perijove on June 12, 2024.
NASA’s billion-dollar spacecraft, Juno, has sent back more spectacular imagery from the Jupiter system.
The solar-powered probe has been in orbit of the giant planet since 2016. Its highly elliptical orbit means it spends most of its time a long way from Jupiter’s cloud tops. Roughly once each month, it swings close to the planet’s polar regions, and then its camera is switched on.
June 14 saw Juno’s 62nd perijove (close flyby), and in the days since, the data collected by JunoCam has been transmitted back to Earth via NASA’s Deep Space Network. Although the Juno mission has no dedicated imaging team, citizen scientists worldwide have instant access to the raw data from JunoCam. Some of those images are collected here.
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 sulfurous plume reaching hundreds of miles into space. The moon is tugged in different directions during its orbit by the gravity of Jupiter and its three other large moons. The frictional heat buildup in its interior causes constant and widespread volcanic activity. Io was imaged recently from Earth.
Juno carries 11 science instruments designed to study the Jovian system. During its mission, it found evidence of storms as big as Earth and of a chaotic magnetic field. Jupiter’s familiar pinkish bands reach deep into its atmosphere, and the gas planet’s core is larger than previously thought.
Since Juno arrived at Jupiter in 2016, it has conducted close flybys of three of Jupiter’s giant Galilean moons—Europa, Ganymede and Io—with JunoCam taking some of the best-ever images of these worlds. However, it’s been unable to visit its fourth giant moon, Callisto.
Callisto will not remain unexplored for long. With the demise of Juno expected next year, there will be no spacecraft in orbit of the giant planet for some years. However, two will arrive in the early 2030s. NASA’s Europa Clipper will tour Jupiter’s moons in 2030, focusing on Europa, while the European Space Agency’s JUpiter ICy moons Explorer will arrive in 2031, flying close to Callisto 21 times before finally going into orbit around Ganymede.
Juno’s 63rd perijove will occur on July 17, and its mission will be completed on September 15, 2025, when Juno will perform a “death dive” into the gas giant during its 76th perijove.
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