Juno: Unlocking Jupiter's Mysteries (NASA New Frontiers)

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Juno Peers Inside a Giant
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 June 29

[img3="Scientists will use the twin magnetometers aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft to gain a better understanding about how Jupiter's magnetic field is generated (see video).
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center"]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/juno/201 ... ere-16.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's Juno spacecraft will make its long anticipated arrival at Jupiter on July 4. Coming face-to-face with the gas giant, Juno will begin to unravel some of the greatest mysteries surrounding our solar system's largest planet, including the origin of its massive magnetosphere.

Magnetospheres are the result of a collision between a planet's intrinsic magnetic field and the supersonic solar wind. Jupiter's magnetosphere -- the volume carved out in the solar wind where the planet's magnetic field dominates --extends up to nearly 2 million miles (3 million kilometers). If it were visible in the night sky, Jupiter's magnetosphere would appear to be about the same size as Earth's full moon. By studying Jupiter's magnetosphere, scientists will gain a better understanding about how Jupiter's magnetic field is generated. They also hope to determine whether the planet has a solid core, which will tell us how Jupiter formed during the earliest days of our solar system.

In order to look inside the planet, the science team equipped Juno with a pair of magnetometers. The magnetometers, which were designed and built by an in-house team of scientists and engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will allow scientists to map Jupiter's magnetic field with high accuracy and observe variations in the field over time. ...

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Juno Peers Inside a Giant
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 June 29

NASA's Juno spacecraft will make its long anticipated arrival at Jupiter on July 4. Coming face-to-face with the gas giant, Juno will begin to unravel some of the greatest mysteries surrounding our solar system's largest planet, including the origin of its massive magnetosphere.

[bystander]

Click to view full size image

Juno, Built to Withstand Intense Radiation Environments

Juno has been headed for Jupiter since 2011 to study the gas giant’s atmosphere, aurora, gravity and magnetic field. This infographic illustrates the radiation environments Juno has traveled through on its journey near Earth and in interplanetary space.

All of space is filled with particles, and when these particles get moving at high speeds, they’re called radiation. NASA studies space radiation to better protect spacecraft as they travel through space, as well as to understand how this space environment influences planetary evolution. After Jupiter orbit insertion on July 4, 2016, Juno will have the chance to study one of the most intense radiation environments in our solar system.

[bystander]

Juno Enters Jupiter's Magnetic Field
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2016 June 30

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

NASA's Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft has entered the planet's magnetosphere, where the movement of particles in space is controlled by what's going on inside Jupiter.

"We've just crossed the boundary into Jupiter's home turf," said Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio. "We're closing in fast on the planet itself and already gaining valuable data."

Juno is on course to swing into orbit around Jupiter on July 4. Science instruments on board detected changes in the particles and fields around the spacecraft as it passed from an environment dominated by the interplanetary solar wind into Jupiter's magnetosphere. Data from Juno's Waves investigation, presented as audio stream and color animation, indicate the spacecraft's crossing of the bow shock just outside the magnetosphere on June 24 and the transit into the lower density of the Jovian magnetosphere on July 25.

"The bow shock is analogous to a sonic boom," said William Kurth of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, lead co-investigator for the Waves investigation. "The solar wind blows past all the planets at a speed of about a million miles per hour, and where it hits an obstacle, there's all this turbulence."

The obstacle is Jupiter's magnetosphere, which is the largest structure in the solar system. ...

[bystander]

Juno: Planned Autopilot for July 4 Jupiter Burn
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2016 June 30

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

At about 12:15 pm PDT today (3:15 p.m. EDT), mission controllers will transmit command product “ji4040” into deep space, to transition the solar-powered Juno spacecraft into autopilot. It will take nearly 48 minutes for the signal to cover the 534-million-mile (860-million-kilometer) distance between the Deep Space Network Antenna in Goldstone, California, to the Juno spacecraft. While sequence ji4040 is only one of four command products sent up to the spacecraft that day, it holds a special place in the hearts of the Juno mission team.

“JI4040 contains the command that starts the Jupiter Orbit insertion sequence,” said Ed Hirst, mission manager of Juno from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “As soon as it initiates -- which should be in less than a second -- Juno will send us data that the command sequence has started.”

When the sequence kicks in, the spacecraft will begin running the software program tailored to carry the solar-powered, basketball court-sized spacecraft through the 35-minute burn that will place it in orbit around Jupiter.

“After the sequence executes, Juno is on autopilot,” said Hirst. “But that doesn’t mean we get to go home. We are monitoring the spacecraft’s activities 24/7 and will do so until well after we are in orbit.” ...

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[b][color=#0000FF]Path of the Ulysses spacecraft through the magnetosphere of Jupiter in 1992[/color][/b]

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<<Ulysses is a decommissioned robotic space probe whose primary mission was to orbit the Sun and study it at all latitudes. It was launched in 1990, made three "fast latitude scans" of the Sun in 1994/1995, 2000/2001, and 2007/2008. In addition, the probe studied several comets. Ulysses was a joint venture of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) with participation from Canada's National Research Council. The last day for mission operations on Ulysses was June 30, 2009.

To study the Sun at all latitudes the probe needed to change its orbital inclination and leave the plane of the Solar System – to change the orbital inclination of a spacecraft a large change in heliocentric velocity is needed. However the necessary amount of velocity change to achieve a high inclination orbit of about 80° far exceeded the capabilities of any launch vehicle. Therefore, to reach the desired orbit around the Sun a gravity assist manoeuvre around Jupiter was chosen, but this Jupiter encounter meant that Ulysses could not be powered by solar cells – the probe instead was powered by a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG).

The spacecraft was originally named Odysseus, because of its lengthy and indirect trajectory to study the solar poles. It was renamed Ulysses, the Latin translation of "Odysseus", at ESA's request in honour not only of Homer's mythological hero but also with reference to Dante's description in Dante's Inferno. Ulysses was originally scheduled for launch in May 1986 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on STS-61-F. Due to the loss of Challenger, the launch of Ulysses was delayed until October 6, 1990 aboard Discovery (mission STS-41).>>

[bystander]

Juno in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | 2016 July 04

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

After an almost five-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter’s orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 p.m. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) Monday, July 4.

“Independence Day always is something to celebrate, but today we can add to America’s birthday another reason to cheer -- Juno is at Jupiter,” said NASA administrator Charlie Bolden. “And what is more American than a NASA mission going boldly where no spacecraft has gone before? With Juno, we will investigate the unknowns of Jupiter’s massive radiation belts to delve deep into not only the planet’s interior, but into how Jupiter was born and how our entire solar system evolved.”

Confirmation of a successful orbit insertion was received from Juno tracking data monitored at the navigation facility at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, as well as at the Lockheed Martin Juno operations center in Denver. The telemetry and tracking data were received by NASA's Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, California, and Canberra, Australia.

"This is the one time I don't mind being stuck in a windowless room on the night of the Fourth of July," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "The mission team did great. The spacecraft did great. We are looking great. It's a great day." ...

[bystander]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

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Team Begins Powering up Science Instruments
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2016 July 07

[c][attachment=0]juno_orbits[1].gif[/attachment][/c][hr][/hr]

The engineers and scientists working on NASA’s Juno mission have been busying themselves, getting their newly arrived Jupiter orbiter ready for operations around the largest planetary inhabitant in the solar system. Juno successfully entered Jupiter's orbit during a 35-minute engine burn on Monday, July 4. Confirmation that the burn had completed was received on Earth at 8:53 pm. PDT (11:53 p.m. EDT) that evening.

As planned, the spacecraft returned to high-rate communications on July 5 and powered up five of its science instruments on July 6. Per the mission plan, the remaining science instruments will be powered up before the end of the month. Juno’s science instruments had been turned off in the days leading up to Jupiter orbit insertion.

The Juno team has scheduled a short trajectory correction maneuver on July 13 to refine the orbit around Jupiter. ...

The next time Juno's orbit carries it close by the planet will be on Aug. 27. The flyby is expected to provide some preliminary science data. ...

[bystander]

Juno Sends First In-orbit View
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2016 July 12

[c][imghover=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA20707.jpg]http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/figure ... 7_fig1.jpg[/imghover]Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS[/c][hr][/hr]

The JunoCam camera aboard NASA's Juno mission is operational and sending down data after the spacecraft's July 4 arrival at Jupiter. Juno's visible-light camera was turned on six days after Juno fired its main engine and placed itself into orbit around the largest planetary inhabitant of our solar system. The first high-resolution images of the gas giant Jupiter are still a few weeks away. ...

The new view was obtained on July 10, 2016, at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT, 5:30 UTC), when the spacecraft was 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter on the outbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. The color image shows atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the famous Great Red Spot, and three of the massive planet's four largest moons -- Io, Europa and Ganymede, from left to right in the image. ...

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

This animation consists of about a month's worth of JunoCam data taken during Juno's first long orbit of Jupiter. It has been processed in an automated fashion to align the color channels and dramatically increase the visibility of the moons. The automated process breaks down when moons get close to the planet, so they appear to "wink out" as they cross the planet's disk. Future versions will address this issue.

Data: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS. Processing by Gerald Eichstaedt.

[bystander]

Juno to Soar Closest to Jupiter This Saturday
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 Aug 25

[img3="This dual view of Jupiter was taken on August 23, when NASA's Juno spacecraft was 2.8 million miles (4.4 million kilometers) from the gas giant planet on the inbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS"]http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA20884.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

This Saturday at 5:51 a.m. PDT, (8:51 a.m. EDT, 12:51 UTC) NASA's Juno spacecraft will get closer to the cloud tops of Jupiter than at any other time during its prime mission. At the moment of closest approach, Juno will be about 2,500 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds and traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter scheduled during its prime mission (scheduled to end in February of 2018). The Aug. 27 flyby will be the first time Juno will have its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zooms past. ...

While the science data from the pass should be downlinked to Earth within days, interpretation and first results are not expected for some time. ...

Not only will Juno's suite of eight science instruments be on, the spacecraft's visible light imager -- JunoCam will also be snapping some closeups. A handful of JunoCam images, including the highest resolution imagery of the Jovian atmosphere and the first glimpse of Jupiter's north and south poles, are expected to be released during the later part of next week. ...

[bystander]

Juno Successfully Completes Jupiter Flyby
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 Aug 27

[img3="Jupiter's north polar region is coming into view as NASA's Juno spacecraft approaches the giant planet. This view of Jupiter was taken on August 27, when Juno was 437,000 miles (703,000 kilometers) away. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS"]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's Juno mission successfully executed its first of 36 orbital flybys of Jupiter today. The time of closest approach with the gas-giant world was 6:44 a.m. PDT (9:44 a.m. EDT, 13:44 UTC) when Juno passed about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's swirling clouds. At the time, Juno was traveling at 130,000 mph (208,000 kilometers per hour) with respect to the planet. This flyby was the closest Juno will get to Jupiter during its prime mission.

"Early post-flyby telemetry indicates that everything worked as planned and Juno is firing on all cylinders," said Rick Nybakken, Juno project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

There are 35 more close flybys of Jupiter planned during Juno's mission (scheduled to end in February 2018). The August 27 flyby was the first time Juno had its entire suite of science instruments activated and looking at the giant planet as the spacecraft zoomed past.

"We are getting some intriguing early data returns as we speak," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "It will take days for all the science data collected during the flyby to be downlinked and even more to begin to comprehend what Juno and Jupiter are trying to tell us."

While results from the spacecraft's suite of instruments will be released down the road, a handful of images from Juno's visible light imager -- JunoCam -- are expected to be released the next couple of weeks. Those images will include the highest-resolution views of the Jovian atmosphere and the first glimpse of Jupiter's north and south poles.

"We are in an orbit nobody has ever been in before, and these images give us a whole new perspective on this gas-giant world," said Bolton. ...

[bystander]

Jupiter's North Pole Unlike Anything Encountered in Solar System
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 Sep 02

[img3="Closing in on Jupiter's North Pole - As Juno closed in on Jupiter for its 2016 Aug 27 pass, its view grew sharper and fine details in the north polar region became increasingly visible. JunoCam obtained this view about two hours before closest approach, when the spacecraft was 120,000 miles (195,000 kilometers) away from the giant planet center."]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3]
[img3="Jupiter Down Under - JunoCam instrument acquired this view on 2016 Aug 27 when the spacecraft was about 58,700 miles (94,500 kilometers) above the cloud tops. At this point, the spacecraft was about an hour past its closest approach, and fine detail in the south polar region is clearly resolved."]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3]
[img3="Arrival and Departure at Jupiter - This montage of 10 JunoCam images shows Jupiter growing and shrinking in apparent size before and after NASA's Juno spacecraft made its closest approach on 2016 Aug 27 12:50 UTC. The images are spaced about 10 hours apart, one Jupiter day, so the Great Red Spot is always in roughly the same place. The small black spots visible on the planet in some of the images are shadows of the large Galilean moons."]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr][c]Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS[/c][hr][/hr]

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back the first-ever images of Jupiter’s north pole, taken during the spacecraft’s first flyby of the planet with its instruments switched on. The images show storm systems and weather activity unlike anything previously seen on any of our solar system’s gas-giant planets.

Juno successfully executed the first of 36 orbital flybys on Aug. 27 when the spacecraft came about 2,500 miles (4,200 kilometers) above Jupiter’s swirling clouds. The download of six megabytes of data collected during the six-hour transit, from above Jupiter’s north pole to below its south pole, took one-and-a-half days. While analysis of this first data collection is ongoing, some unique discoveries have already made themselves visible. ...

[c][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slE2i0O0pDY[/youtube]Juno Listens to Jupiter's Auroras - Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Thirteen hours of radio emissions from Jupiter's intense auroras are presented here, both visually and in sound. [/c]
[c][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9TtSCkoERw[/youtube]Jupiter's Glow in Infrared Light - Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
As Juno approached Jupiter on 2016 August 27, it's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument captured the planet's glow in infrared light.[/c]
[c][img3="Juno's View of Jupiter's Southern Lights - This infrared image gives an unprecedented view of the southern aurora of Jupiter, as captured by Juno's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) on 2016 Aug 27. The planet's southern aurora can hardly be seen from Earth due to our home planet's position in respect to Jupiter's south pole. Juno's unique polar orbit provides the first opportunity to observe this region of the gas-giant planet in detail."]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr][/c]

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This is weird: there's been surprisingly thin coverage of Juno's Jupiter images. BBC radio news was the best, including the banshee audio file of the radiation zones (the pictures were quite good too, as so often on radio). I sat in front of the TV, zapping around to catch evening news items on the various channels. I only caught one, on BBC TV news, which spent a lot of time showing the original launch and a clip inviting people to propose photo targets. The (London) Times newspaper seems to have missed out altogether.
Junocam's first images might look a little bland and low in contrast - not great for making a dramatic splash in printed media. Somehow the visual criteria have trumped the essential triumph of obtaining even these first few snapshots during an extraordinary orbital ballet!
Well... These Jupiter portraits are enigmatic and gorgeous, peering down over the forehead of a god like roseate alabaster ('Totus, teres, atque rotundus' - Complete, smooth, and round - as Horace might have said).
JPL said that Junocam is a public engagement asset rather than an important scientific tool. Perhaps some will think that the pallid portraits of Jupiter are not big enough 'box office', and therefore disappointing. (Come the time of Yuri Milner's Starshot flyby there will hopflea be an audience receptive to images of blurred worlds)
So, Bravo! JPL, thanks for these visions - which are about more than the merely visible - and let's look forward to many more.

[starsurfer]

This is weird: there's been surprisingly thin coverage of Juno's Jupiter images. BBC radio news was the best, including the banshee audio file of the radiation zones (the pictures were quite good too, as so often on radio). I sat in front of the TV, zapping around to catch evening news items on the various channels. I only caught one, on BBC TV news, which spent a lot of time showing the original launch and a clip inviting people to propose photo targets. The (London) Times newspaper seems to have missed out altogether.
Junocam's first images might look a little bland and low in contrast - not great for making a dramatic splash in printed media. Somehow the visual criteria have trumped the essential triumph of obtaining even these first few snapshots during an extraordinary orbital ballet!
Well... These Jupiter portraits are enigmatic and gorgeous, peering down over the forehead of a god like roseate alabaster ('Totus, teres, atque rotundus' - Complete, smooth, and round - as Horace might have said).
JPL said that Junocam is a public engagement asset rather than an important scientific tool. Perhaps some will think that the pallid portraits of Jupiter are not big enough 'box office', and therefore disappointing. (Come the time of Yuri Milner's Starshot flyby there will hopflea be an audience receptive to images of blurred worlds)
So, Bravo! JPL, thanks for these visions - which are about more than the merely visible - and let's look forward to many more.

Since when does the UK media particularly care about anything scientific, especially astronomy?

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Since when does the UK media particularly care about anything scientific, especially astronomy?

Actually, they don't do too badly. I keep cuttings as visual research (a.k.a. Scrapbooks). They're mostly from The Times (London), and I've just been leafing through from 2014 onwards. They've covered the likes of LIGO; ESA's Pathfinder; exoplanet GJ 1132b etc; alien life and SETI developments; Mars mission Curiosity; 'wet planet' theory; New Horizons; Rosetta; Yuri Milner's Starshot and Breakthrough Listen; ISS tales especially Tim Peake, Scott Kelly's Zinnia; Mike Brown's (CalTech) hunt for the 9th planet; the Ordnance Survey's Mars Map competition; Kepler's findings; Quantum computing, quantum physics, Relativity; Geoffrey Landis' (NASA Glenn Research Centre) Sun telescope idea; HD 131399Ab (the Asimovian 'Nightfall' world); Juno's progress - but not last week's close-up adventure; MARS 2020 sonic survey proposals; Proxima b discovery; skyscapes often with the Milky Way, by such as Victor Lui, Justin Ng, Ainsley Bennett, Jamie Currie, Gordon Mansfield & Matt Cardy. In previous years, huge ISS images and Thierry Legault's ISS transit pictures have been on the front page.
Newsprint technology doesn't always do justice to astronomical imagery, especially with tiny detail or weak contrast. The text articles do what they can in the busy space of a newspaper.
So I don't feel cut off. And glue pens don't last that long here!

[bystander]

Juno Spacecraft in Safe Mode for Latest Jupiter Flyby;
Scientists Intrigued by Data from First Flyby
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2016 Oct 19

NASA’s Juno spacecraft entered safe mode Tuesday, Oct. 18 at about 10:47 p.m. PDT (Oct. 19 at 1:47 a.m. EDT). Early indications are a software performance monitor induced a reboot of the spacecraft’s onboard computer. The spacecraft acted as expected during the transition into safe mode, restarted successfully and is healthy. High-rate data has been restored, and the spacecraft is conducting flight software diagnostics. All instruments are off, and the planned science data collection for today’s close flyby of Jupiter (perijove 2), did not occur. ...

The Juno science team continues to analyze returns from the first close flyby on Aug. 27. Revelations from that flyby include that Jupiter's magnetic fields and aurora are bigger and more powerful than originally thought. Juno's Microwave Radiometer instrument (MWR) also provided data that give mission scientists their first glimpse below the planet's swirling cloud deck. The radiometer instrument can peer about 215 to 250 miles (350 to 400 kilometers) below Jupiter's clouds. ...

The JunoCam public outreach camera also was operating during the Aug. 27 flyby. The raw images from that flyby (and all future flybys) were made available on the JunoCam website for the public to not only peruse but to process into final image products. JunoCam is the first outreach camera to venture beyond the asteroid belt. ...

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How will this Safe Mode impact the planned series of orbits?

[bystander]

Juno Prepares for December 11 Jupiter Flyby
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2016 Dec 09

On Sunday, December 11, at 9:04 a.m. PST (12:04 p.m. EST, 17:04 UTC) NASA’s Juno spacecraft will make its third science flyby of Jupiter.

At the time of closest approach (called perijove), Juno will be about 2,580 miles (4,150 kilometers) above the gas giant’s roiling cloud tops and traveling at a speed of about 129,000 mph (57.8 kilometers per second) relative to the planet. Seven of Juno’s eight science instruments will be energized and collecting data during the flyby.

“This will be the first time we are planning to operate the full Juno capability to investigate Jupiter’s interior structure via its gravity field,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “We are looking forward to what Jupiter’s gravity may reveal about the gas giant’s past and its future.”

Mission managers have decided not to collect data with the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument during the December flyby, to allow the team to complete an update to the spacecraft software that processes JIRAM’s science data. A software patch allowing JIRAM’s operation is expected to be available prior to the next perijove pass (PJ4) on Feb. 2, 2017.

The spacecraft team continues to weigh its options regarding modifications of Juno’s orbital period -- how long it takes for the spacecraft to complete one orbit around Jupiter. At present, Juno’s orbital period is 53.4 days. There had been plans to perform a period adjustment maneuver with the spacecraft’s main engine on Oct. 19 to reduce the orbital period to 14 days. The team made the decision to forgo the maneuver in order to further study the performance of a set of valves that are part of the spacecraft’s fuel pressurization system. The period reduction maneuver was the final scheduled burn of Juno’s main engine. ...

[bystander]

Juno to Remain in Current Orbit at Jupiter
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2017 Feb 17

[img3="NASA’s Juno spacecraft soared directly over Jupiter’s south pole when JunoCam acquired this image on Feb. 2, 2017, from an altitude of about 62,800 miles (101,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops. This enhanced color version highlights the bright high clouds and numerous meandering oval storms.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/John Landino"]http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA21382.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter, which has been in orbit around the gas giant since July 4, 2016, will remain in its current 53-day orbit for the remainder of the mission. This will allow Juno to accomplish its science goals, while avoiding the risk of a previously-planned engine firing that would have reduced the spacecraft's orbital period to 14 days. ...

The orbital period does not affect the quality of the science collected by Juno on each flyby, since the altitude over Jupiter will be the same at the time of closest approach. In fact, the longer orbit provides new opportunities that allow further exploration of the far reaches of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field, increasing the value of Juno's research. ...

Juno's larger 53-day orbit allows for "bonus science" that wasn't part of the original mission design. Juno will further explore the far reaches of the Jovian magnetosphere -- the region of space dominated by Jupiter's magnetic field -- including the far magnetotail, the southern magnetosphere, and the magnetospheric boundary region called the magnetopause. Understanding magnetospheres and how they interact with the solar wind are key science goals of NASA's Heliophysics Science Division. ...

[bystander]

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Set for Fifth Jupiter Flyby
NASA | JPL-Caltech | Juno | 2017 Mar 24

[img3="This enhanced-color image of a mysterious dark spot on Jupiter seems to reveal a Jovian "galaxy" of swirling storms. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Roman Tkachenko"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/juno/20 ... 386-16.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

NASA's Juno spacecraft will make its fifth flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on Monday, March 27, at 1:52 a.m. PDT (4:52 a.m. EDT, 8:52 UTC).

At the time of closest approach (called perijove), Juno will be about 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops, traveling at a speed of about 129,000 miles per hour (57.8 kilometers per second) relative to the gas-giant planet. All of Juno's eight science instruments will be on and collecting data during the flyby.

"This will be our fourth science pass -- the fifth close flyby of Jupiter of the mission -- and we are excited to see what new discoveries Juno will reveal," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Every time we get near Jupiter's cloud tops, we learn new insights that help us understand this amazing giant planet." ...

[bystander]

A Whole New Jupiter: First Science Results from Juno
NASA | JPL-Caltech | AGU | Juno | 2017 May 25

[img3="This image shows Jupiter’s south pole, as seen by NASA’s Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometers). The oval features are cyclones, up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) in diameter. Multiple images taken with the JunoCam instrument on three separate orbits were combined to show all areas in daylight, enhanced color, and stereographic projection.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/im ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Early science results from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter portray the largest planet in our solar system as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world, with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant, and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field that may indicate it was generated closer to the planet’s surface than previously thought.

“We are excited to share these early discoveries, which help us better understand what makes Jupiter so fascinating,” said Diane Brown, Juno program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "It was a long trip to get to Jupiter, but these first results already demonstrate it was well worth the journey.”

Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011, entering Jupiter’s orbit on July 4, 2016. The findings from the first data-collection pass, which flew within about 2,600 miles (4,200 kilometers) of Jupiter's swirling cloud tops on Aug. 27, are being published this week in two papers in the journal Science, as well as 44 papers in Geophysical Research Letters.

“We knew, going in, that Jupiter would throw us some curves,” said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. “But now that we are here we are finding that Jupiter can throw the heat, as well as knuckleballs and sliders. There is so much going on here that we didn’t expect that we have had to take a step back and begin to rethink of this as a whole new Jupiter.” ...

Juno Mission to Jupiter Delivers First Science Results
Southwest Research Institute | 2017 May 25

First Juno Science Results Supported by University's Jupiter 'Forecast'
University of Leicester | 2017 May 25

Jupiter’s interior and deep atmosphere: The initial pole-to-pole passes with the Juno spacecraft - S. J. Bolton et al

• Science 356(6340):821 (26 May 2017) DOI: 10.1126/science.aal2108

Jupiter’s magnetosphere and aurorae observed by the Juno spacecraft during its first polar orbits - J. E. P. Connerney et al

• Science 356(6340):826 (26 May 2017) DOI: 10.1126/science.aam5928

Early Results: Juno at Jupiter

• Geophysical Research Letters (online 25 May 2017)

[bystander]

Earth-based Views of Jupiter to Enhance Juno Flyby
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2017 Jun 30

[img3="This composite, false-color infrared image of Jupiter reveals haze particles over a range of altitudes, as seen in reflected sunlight. It was taken using the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii on May 18, 2017, in collaboration with observations of Jupiter by NASA's Juno mission. Credits: Gemini Observatory/AURA/NASA/JPL-Caltech"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/im ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Telescopes in Hawaii have obtained new images of Jupiter and its Great Red Spot, which will assist the first-ever close-up study of the Great Red Spot, planned for July 10. On that date, NASA's Juno spacecraft will fly directly over the giant planet's most famous feature at an altitude of only about 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers).

Throughout the Juno mission, numerous observations of Jupiter by Earth-based telescopes have been acquired in coordination with the mission, to help Juno investigate the giant planet's atmosphere. On May 18, 2017, the Gemini North telescope and the Subaru Telescope, both on Hawaii's Mauna Kea peak, simultaneously examined Jupiter in very high resolution at different wavelengths. These latest observations supplement others earlier this year in providing information about atmospheric dynamics at different depths at the Great Red Spot and other regions of Jupiter.

The Great Red Spot is a swirling storm, centuries old and wider than the diameter of Earth. Juno will use multiple instruments to study this feature when it flies over it about 12 minutes after the spacecraft makes the closest approach to Jupiter of its current orbit at 6:55 p.m. on July 10, PDT (9:55 p.m. on July 10, EDT; 1:55 a.m. on July 11, Universal Time). Juno entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. ...

Striking Gemini Images Point Juno Spacecraft Toward Discovery
Gemini Observatory | NSF | AURA | 2017 Jun 30

Mid-Infrared Images from the Subaru Telescope Extend Juno Spacecraft Discoveries
Subaru Telescope | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | 2017 Jun 30

[bystander]

Juno to Fly Over Jupiter's Great Red Spot July 10
NASA | JPL-Caltech | SwRI | Juno | 2017 Jun 30

[img3="This true color mosaic of Jupiter was constructed from images taken by the narrow angle camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 29, 2000, during its closest approach to the giant planet at a distance of approximately 10 million kilometers (6.2 million miles). Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute"]https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/im ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Just days after celebrating its first anniversary in Jupiter orbit, NASA's Juno spacecraft will fly directly over Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the gas giant's iconic, 10,000-mile-wide (16,000-kilometer-wide) storm. This will be humanity's first up-close and personal view of the gigantic feature -- a storm monitored since 1830 and possibly existing for more than 350 years.

"Jupiter's mysterious Great Red Spot is probably the best-known feature of Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "This monumental storm has raged on the solar system's biggest planet for centuries. Now, Juno and her cloud-penetrating science instruments will dive in to see how deep the roots of this storm go, and help us understand how this giant storm works and what makes it so special."

The data collection of the Great Red Spot is part of Juno's sixth science flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops. Perijove (the point at which an orbit comes closest to Jupiter's center) will be on Monday, July 10, at 6:55 p.m. PDT (9:55 p.m. EDT). At the time of perijove, Juno will be about 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops. Eleven minutes and 33 seconds later, Juno will have covered another 24,713 miles (39,771 kilometers) and will be directly above the coiling crimson cloud tops of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The spacecraft will pass about 5,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) above the Giant Red Spot clouds. All eight of the spacecraft's instruments as well as its imager, JunoCam, will be on during the flyby.

On July 4 at 7:30 p.m. PDT (10:30 p.m. EDT), Juno will have logged exactly one year in Jupiter orbit. At the time, the spacecraft will have chalked up about 71 million miles (114.5 million kilometers) in orbit around the giant planet. ...