Stunning Images of Jupiter Captured by NASA’s Juno Spacecraft

Jupiter, often described as a failed star due to its immense size, has once again amazed with its stunning colors. Recently, on June 23rd, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured mesmerizing images of the gargantuan planet, as reported by Forbes. Everything about Jupiter is colossal, including its famous storm known as the Red Spot, which could engulf three Earths. With a diameter of 69,911 km, Jupiter is a staggering 11 times wider than our own planet.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft is also special and holds the record for the furthest solar-powered spacecraft from Earth. It was on its 52nd orbit, a close flyby of the planet, when it took the photo. After it transmitted the raw data, the researchers assembled and edited the images for proper viewing.

Juno, developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is a major spacecraft that cost $1.1 billion. In August 2011, NASA’s Juno spacecraft launched an expedition to explore Jupiter, beginning a five-year odyssey. After traversing cosmic space, it finally reached its heavenly destination in July 2016.

Currently on an extended mission, the intrepid spacecraft remains committed to unraveling Jupiter’s mysteries until September 2025 or the inevitable end of its life. It successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016. Since then, Juno has followed an elliptical orbit that allowed it to approach Jupiter’s cloud tops. However, its current extended mission is primarily focused on studying Jupiter’s large Galilean moons – Ganymede, Europa, Callisto and Io. The spacecraft orbits Jupiter every 32 days

Juno has already made close flybys of Ganymede in 2021 and Europa in 2022, and the latter moon is of particular interest to astrobiologists as they search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

During its most recent perijove on May 17, 2023, Juno captured images of Jupiter’s moon Io from just 22,060 miles / 35,500 kilometers above its surface. Io is known as the most volcanic object in the solar system, with its surface dotted with numerous volcanoes that constantly spew lava.