Juno sends back first picture from orbit
The Juno probe has sent back its first picture after entering Jupiter's orbit. The image shows the sun-lit part of Jupiter alongside Io, Europa and Ganymede, three of the planet's moons. It is currently moving away from Jupiter in an arc orbit, and will swing back in August, when scientists say, it would be able to take better and closer pictures of the planet.
Information about the 'giant' planet
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun and the largest in the solar system. Jupiter is the oldest known planet and is a gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, with a quarter of its mass being helium. The mass of Jupiter is 300 times the mass of Earth. It is named by the Romans after their god Jupiter.
Most number of satellites
Jupiter has the most number of natural satellites. It has four large moons and 60 smaller ones, making a total of 64.
What is Mission 'Juno'?
Juno is a NASA New Frontiers mission launched to study Jupiter's composition, gravitational field, magnetic field and polar magnetosphere. The Juno spacecraft was launched on 5th August, 2011 and will travel 2.8 billion kilometres from its launch to arrival. Juno weighs 3500 pounds and is second mission for Jupiter research after 1995's Galileo mission by NASA, which lasted till 2003.
Billion dollar mission
The total cost of the Juno mission is over $1.13 billion. This includes satellite components, guidance and control systems and Juno's vast array of sensors tuned to detect various phenomena on the planet.
Juno enters Jupiter's orbit
After a successful five-year voyage, Juno reached Jupiter on Monday. It entered Jupiter's orbit by slowing down its speed to gently slip into the orbit. The spacecraft is supposed to be revolving around the planet till 2018. Juno will be just 5000 km away from Jupiter's top clouds. Before entering the orbit, Juno sent the pictures of planet glowing yellow with its four moons.
Need to know the secrets of Jupiter
Juno's chief scientist Scott Bolton said that Juno is there to look beneath Jupiter's surface. Juno will find out what is Jupiter built of, how deep are its features and learn about its secrets.
Juno sends back first picture from orbit
The Juno probe has sent back its first picture after entering Jupiter's orbit. The image shows the sun-lit part of Jupiter alongside Io, Europa and Ganymede, three of the planet's moons. It is currently moving away from Jupiter in an arc orbit, and will swing back in August, when scientists say, it would be able to take better and closer pictures of the planet.
