Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

NASA | JULY 16, 2016

The JunoCam camera aboard NASA's Juno mission is operational and sending down data after the spacecraft's July 4 arrival at Jupiter. Juno's visible-light camera was turned on six days after Juno fired its main engine and placed itself into orbit around the largest planetary inhabitant of our solar system. The first high-resolution images of the gas giant Jupiter are still a few weeks away.

This color view from NASA's Juno spacecraft is made from some of the first images taken by JunoCam after the spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter on July 5th (UTC). NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

The new view was obtained on July 10, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT, 5:30 UTC), when the spacecraft was 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter on the outbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit.

The color image shows atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the famous Great Red Spot, and three of the massive planet's four largest moons -- Io, Europa and Ganymede, from left to right in the image.

During its mission of exploration, Juno will circle the Jovian world 37 times, soaring low over the planet's cloud tops -- as close as about 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometers). During these flybys, Juno will probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and study its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Blocking A Sneeze, Man Ruptures Throat

Pinching your nose while clamping your mouth shut to contain a forceful sneeze isn't a good idea, warn doctors.

3 Cups Of Coffee Daily Could Improve Heart Function

The effects of beverages such as coffee and tea are widely studied but still not clearly understood.

New Observation of Nearby Star System Confirms Similarity to Ours

A relatively nearby planetary system is structured remarkably like what ours probably looked like when it was young, the U.S. space agency NASA confirms.

Scientists discover fossil of dinosaur ancestor with surprising croc-like appearance

Scientists have long wondered what the earliest dinosaur relatives looked like. Most assumed they would resemble miniature dinosaurs, about the size of chickens, and walk on two legs.

Study indicates as great white shark disappears, living fossil moves in

When the great white shark disappeared from a specific area off the coast of South Africa, a Jurassic-era predator called the sevengill shark moved in.

Final Descent Image from Rosetta Spacecraft

A new image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft shortly before its controlled impact into the comet's surface on Sept. 30, 2016.