The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons. NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Tuesday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the … Read more
The Moon, left, Saturn, upper right, and Jupiter, lower right, are seen after sunset from Washington, DC, on Dec. 17, 2020. The two planets drew closer to each other in the sky as they headed towards a “great conjunction” on Dec. 21, where the two giant planets appeared a tenth of a degree apart. View … Read more
This illustration made on Nov. 26, 1974, by Rick Giudice shows the Pioneer 10 spacecraft traveling through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. At the time, it was uncertain whether it would traverse it safely since the density of particles large enough to damage the craft was … Read more
This newly released image from the NASA Hubble Space Telescope shows the planet Jupiter in a color composite of ultraviolet wavelengths. Released in honor of Jupiter reaching opposition, which occurs when the planet and the Sun are in opposite sides of the sky, this view of the gas giant planet includes the iconic, massive storm called the … Read more
On Sept. 7, 2023, during its 54th close flyby of Jupiter, NASA’s Juno mission captured this view of an area in the giant planet’s far northern regions called Jet N7. The image shows turbulent clouds and storms along Jupiter’s terminator, the dividing line between the day and night sides of the planet. The low angle … Read more
Narrow jet stream near equator has winds traveling 320 miles per hour NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a new, never-before-seen feature in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The high-speed jet stream, which spans more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide, sits over Jupiter’s equator above the main cloud decks. The discovery of this jet is giving … Read more
It’s time for stargazers to rejoice! According to Sky & Telescope, if a person has a telescope or binoculars, he/she will be able to catch a rare treat this month as five planets will appear in the night sky aligned in rare conjunction. The planets Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Saturn will appear in the … Read more
April is unbelievably hot and the sweltering heatwave is making life miserable for people but for sky-gazers, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Latest planetary analysis shows that Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are going to form one straight line this month. And the best part, you can see this with naked eyes from Earth. A … Read more
There is also the promise of more such additions as NASA readies its $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope for planet-gazing in deep space. Astronomers have added the 5,000th exoplanet to the NASA Exoplanet Archive, the agency’s officials at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have said. NASA hit the milestone mark following the discovery … Read more
Lucy is set to be launched on October 16. (Artist impression: Southwest Research Institute via NASA) Jupiter Trojan asteroids: NASA’s Lucy mission is set to be launched this week and the scientific community is excited as this would mark the first spacecraft to explore the Jupiter Trojan asteroids. It is believed that the asteroids are … Read more