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Juno in launch configuration. Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter.It was built by Lockheed Martin and is operated by NASA 's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.The spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 5, 2011 UTC, as part of the New Frontiers program. [6]
The primary observation target is Jupiter itself, although limited images of some of Jupiter's moons have been taken and more are intended. [5] JunoCam successfully returned detailed images of Ganymede after Juno's flyby on June 7, 2021, [ 6 ] with further opportunities including planned flybys of Europa on September 29, 2022, and two of Io ...
Juno also studies Jupiter's deep winds, [58] [59] which can reach speeds of 600 km/h. [60] [61] Among early results, Juno gathered information about Jovian lightning that revised earlier theories. [62] Juno provided the first views of Jupiter's north pole, as well as insights about Jupiter's aurorae, magnetic field, and atmosphere. [63]
Global image of Jupiter's moon Io acquired by Juno's JunoCam camera on October 15, 2023. The Juno spacecraft was launched in 2011 and entered orbit around Jupiter on July 5, 2016. Juno ' s mission is primarily focused on improving our understanding of Jupiter's interior, magnetic field, aurorae, and polar atmosphere. [88]
Jupiter has been visited by automated spacecraft since 1973, when the space probe Pioneer 10 passed close enough to Jupiter to send back revelations about its properties and phenomena. [ 168 ] [ 169 ] Missions to Jupiter are accomplished at a cost in energy, which is described by the net change in velocity of the spacecraft, or delta-v .
A montage of Jupiter and its four largest moons (distance and sizes not to scale) There are 95 moons of Jupiter with confirmed orbits as of 5 February 2024. [1] [note 1] This number does not include a number of meter-sized moonlets thought to be shed from the inner moons, nor hundreds of possible kilometer-sized outer irregular moons that were only briefly captured by telescopes. [4]
Amalthea in James Webb Space Telescope (left) (20 August 2022) "A distant image of Amalthea passing in front of Jupiter was captured by the Juno spacecraft on 7 March 2024 during its 59th Perijove." Amalthea orbits Jupiter at a distance of 181,000 km (2.54 Jupiter radii ).
Before Juno, only the Galileo probe entered Jupiter's orbit from 1995 to 2003; however, its orbital inclination made it impossible to observe the polar regions of Jupiter; Cassini, which flew past Jupiter in 2000, also had no opportunity to photograph the polar regions. Thus, they remained "white spots" until 2016 (the images of the previous ...