Space Swoon: NASA’s Juno spacecraft’s last shot of Jupiter until it’s in orbit
NASA’s Juno spacecraft is powering down in preparation for its insertion into the gas giant’s orbit. Whatever may come of this attempted insertion, Juno has left the world with one final snapshot of the planet.
This is the final view taken by the JunoCam instrument on NASA’s Juno spacecraft before Juno’s instruments were powered down in preparation for orbit insertion. Juno obtained this color view on June 29, 2016, at a distance of 3.3 million miles (5.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter.
The spacecraft is approaching over Jupiter’s north pole, providing an unprecedented perspective on the Jupiter system, including its four large moons.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS