The gas giant orbiter has flown
over 510 million miles and also documented close encounters with three of
Jupiter’s four largest moons.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fly
past Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io on Tuesday, May 16, and then the gas giant
itself soon after. The flyby of the Jovian moon will be the closest to date, at
an altitude of about 22,060 miles (35,500 kilometers). Now in the third year of
its extended mission to investigate the interior
of Jupiter, the solar-powered spacecraft will also explore the ring system
where some of the gas giant’s inner moons reside.
To date, Juno has performed 50
flybys of Jupiter and also collected data during close encounters with three of
the four Galilean moons – the icy worlds Europa and
Ganymede, and fiery Io.
This composite image of Io was
generated using data collected by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno
spacecraft during four flybys of the Jovian moon. The resolution of the images
gets progressively better as the distance between spacecraft and moon decreases
with each flyby (perijove, or PJ). Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/
Image processing, left to right: Björn Jónsson (CC NC SA), Jason Perry (CC NC
SA), Mike Ravine (CC BY), Kevin M. Gill (CC BY)
“Io is the most volcanic celestial
body that we know of in our solar system,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal
investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “By
observing it over time on multiple passes, we can watch how the volcanoes vary
– how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, whether they are linked to
a group or solo, and if the shape of the lava flow changes.”
Slightly larger than Earth’s moon,
Io is a world in constant torment. Not only is the biggest planet in the solar
system forever pulling at it gravitationally, but so are its Galilean siblings
– Europa and the biggest moon in the solar system, Ganymede. The result is that
Io is continuously stretched and squeezed, actions linked to the creation of
the lava seen erupting from its many volcanoes.
While Juno was designed to study
Jupiter, its many sensors have additionally provided a wealth of data on the planet’s
moons. Along with
its visible light imager JunoCam, the spacecraft’s JIRAM (Jovian
InfraRed Auroral Mapper), SRU (Stellar Reference Unit), and MWR (Microwave
Radiometer) will be studying Io’s volcanoes and how volcanic eruptions interact
with Jupiter’s powerful magnetosphere and auroras.
These composite views depicting volcanic activity on Io were generated using both visible light and infrared data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during flybys of the Jovian moon on Dec. 14, 2022 (left) and March 1, 2023. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
“We are entering into another
amazing part of Juno’s mission as we get closer and closer to Io with
successive orbits. This 51st orbit will provide our closest look yet at this
tortured moon,” said Bolton. “Our upcoming flybys in July and October will
bring us even closer, leading up to our twin flyby encounters with Io in
December of this year and February of next year, when we fly within 1,500
kilometers of its surface. All of these flybys are providing spectacular views
of the volcanic activity of this amazing moon. The data should be amazing.”
A “Half-Century” at Jupiter
During its flybys of Jupiter, Juno
has zoomed low over the planet’s cloud tops – as close as about 2,100 miles
(3,400 kilometers). Approaching the planet from over the north pole and exiting
over the south during these flybys, the spacecraft uses its instruments to
probe beneath the obscuring cloud cover, studying Jupiter’s interior and
auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere, and
magnetosphere.
These infrared views of volcanic activity of Jupiter’s moon Io were collected by the JIRAM (Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper) instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during a flyby of the moon on Oct. 16, 2021. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for
more than 2,505 Earth days and flown over 510 million miles (820 million
kilometers). The spacecraft arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. The first science flyby occurred 53 days later, and
the spacecraft continued with that orbital period until its flyby of Ganymede on June 7, 2021, which
reduced its orbital period to 43 days. The Europa flyby on Sept. 29, 2022, reduced
the orbital period to 38 days. After the next two Io flybys, on May 16 and July
31, Juno’s orbital period will remain fixed at 32 days.
“Io is only one of the celestial
bodies which continue to come under Juno’s microscope during this extended
mission,” said Juno’s acting project manager, Matthew Johnson of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “As well as continuously changing
our orbit to allow new perspectives of Jupiter and flying low over the
nightside of the planet, the spacecraft will also be threading the needle
between some of Jupiter’s rings to learn more about their origin and
composition.”
This downloadable graphic contains 50 image highlights from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter. Juno completed its 50th close pass of the gas giant on April 8, 2023. Download image, get image details and credits.
More About the Mission
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a
division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the
principal investigator, Scott J. Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in
San Antonio. Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s
Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver
built and operates the spacecraft.
More information about Juno is available at: https://www.nasa.gov/juno and https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu
Source: NASA’s Juno Mission Getting Closer to Jupiter’s Moon Io | NASA
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