Stunning images of Jupiter captured by the Juno spacecraft during a close flyby in October 2018. (credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt)
This week, NASA's Juno spacecraft made its closest approach yet to Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, coming to within 7,270 miles (11,700 kilometers) of its surface - that's more than 3× closer than some weather satellites orbit Earth.
Finally, this series shows Juno approaching Io, pivoting, then zooming away.
I just read about Juno, the spacecraft that currently orbits Jupiter.
It has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016.
Jupiter is very hostile; it has a magnetic field that extends almost to Saturn, as well as giant radiation belts that would irreparably damage the technology and inevitably end the mission by destroying the scientific instruments.
Now, Juno has a carefully calculated orbit and is geared up to the max against the radiation, but the mission was planned only till 2018.
But it turns out Juno is a tough cookie (applause for those, who built it, please) and her mission was extended first until 2021 and now until 2025.
It has already given scientists a fuck ton of new information about this majestic planet, answered questions, unlocked new ones and now we have THE MOST FUCKING GORGEOUS PICTURES OF JUPITER, LIKE, HOLY CRAP!
I don't know that much about astronomy, but I really love space and I had to get this off my chest. So ...