Our understanding of Jupiter is about to get a lot deep , with Juno search the gargantuan planet ’s air closer and in more detail than anyprevious investigation .
NASA ’s spacecraft has just performed the first and cheeseparing of its 36 scheduled flybys of Jupiter . At one point , Juno was only 4,200 km ( 2,600 miles ) from the satellite , moving at the neck - break away f number of 208,000 klick per hour ( 130,000 mph ) .
" Early post - flyby telemetry indicates that everything work as planned and Juno is open fire on all cylinders , " Juno undertaking manager Rick Nybakken allege in astatement .
The probe ’s primary mission is to understand what makes Jupiter tick , using eight different cat’s-paw to peer through the thick clouds . The August 27 flyby was the first time the entire retinue of gizmos on the craft have been on at the same time . The instruments will measure Jupiter ’s magnetic and gravitational field as well as its atmospheric paper .
" We are bring forth 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 day for all the science data collected during the flyby to be downlinked and even more to lead off to comprehend what Juno and Jupiter are sample to tell us . "
Astronomers have begun to analyse the scientific data , with early results expected in the coming months . If you feel you ca n’t wait that long , you ’re in luck . A NASA spokesperson told IFLScience that the first image from the JunoCam – the visible light camera – will be released on Thursday , September 1 .
The effigy will show the never - before - seen poles of Jupiter and the high-pitched - resolution view of the Jovian ambiance . " We are in an orbit nobody has ever been in before , and these images give us a whole new linear perspective on this gas - giant world , " state Bolton .
Juno ’s primary missionary station will conclude in February 2018 and , hopefully , by then the probe will have followed in the footsteps of itsmythological namesakeand break what ’s going on underneath the swarm of Jupiter !
