Juno spacecraft tagged posts

This image combines an image taken with Hubble Space Telescope in the optical (taken in spring 2014) and observat ions of its auroras in the ultraviolet, taken in 2016. Credit: NASA, ESA

This aurora observation programme is supported by measurements made by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, currently on its way to Jupiter.
Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, is best known for its colourful storms, the most famous being the Great Red Spot. Now astronomers have focused on another beautiful feature of the planet, using the ultraviolet capabilities of the Hubble. This programme will determine how various components of Jupiter’s auroras respond to different conditions in the solar wind.

This observation programme is perfectly timed as NASA’s Juno spacecraft is currently in the solar wind nea...

On July 4, NASA will fly a solar-powered spacecraft the size of a basketball court within 2,900 miles of the cloud tops of our solar system’s largest planet. As of June 16, Juno is 18 days and 8.6 million miles from Jupiter. On the evening of July 4, Juno will fire its main engine for 35 minutes, placing it into a polar orbit around the gas giant. During the 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.

A series of 37 planned close approaches during the mission will eclipse the previous record for Jupiter set in 1974 by NASA’s Pioneer 11 spacecraft of 27,000 miles...