PHOTO from NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWRI/MSSSS
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Juno spacecraft has released its initial “sneak peek” of the Jupiter, the “King” planet in the solar system.
The photograph was taken by the spacecraft’s JunoCam on Sunday when the spacecraft was located 2.7 million kilometers from the planet. Juno will snap high-resolution photos during its 53-day orbit at the enormous gaseous planet and release them again in a few weeks.
Scott Bolton, the principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, declared in a press statement, “This scene from JunoCam indicates it survived its first pass through Jupiter’s extreme radiation environment without any degradation and is ready to take on Jupiter. We can’t wait to see the first view of Jupiter’s poles.”
The pic showed Jupiter and its Great Red Spot alongside three of its colossal moons Io, Europa, and Ganymede, The Guardian reported.
READ: Hello Jupiter! NASA spacecraft arrives at giant planet
Candy Hansen, Juno co-investigator from the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, further expounded, “The first high-resolution images of the planet will be taken on August 27 when Juno makes its next close pass to Jupiter.”
Juno will revolve 37 times around the Jovian heavenly body for 20 months and wander up to 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometers) to Jupiter’s surface, New York times reported.
Juno was launched on August 11, 2011, and after a laborious 1.8 billion-mile expedition, it finally landed on Jupiter’s airspace last week. Gianna Francesca Catolico