just sent a package of amazing photos from Jupiter

Juno just sent us some of its best photos of Jupiter to date. NASA’s space probe completed its sixty-sixth flyby of the gaseous planet on October 23, capturing breathtaking images that it has been transmitting to Earth with its 0.0003 Mbps connection.

Juno was launched on August 5, 2011. It entered polar orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016, becoming the first probe to fly past the poles of the huge planet. In addition to the gas giant, it has recorded close encounters with three of the four major Jovian moons.

The mission has helped astronomers learn more about the composition, gravity, magnetic field and magnetosphere of the largest planet in the solar system. It has also revealed surprising details about its auroras, its atmosphere and its internal structure, more complex and turbulent than previously thought.

Juno’s mission was set to end in 2018, but has been extended by NASA on several occasions. Still, the radiation is unforgiving, and the probe has begun to show signs of deterioration in its instruments, including the camera with which it took these photos, the JunoCam.

Interestingly, the Juno mission does not have a dedicated team of scientists to process the images. They are amateurs who download the raw data, process it and upload it to a website dedicated to the mission.

During one of its last flybys, the spacecraft passed near Amalthea, Jupiter’s fifth moon, which is characterized by its potato shape and intense red color (it is the reddest object in the entire solar system). With a radius of 84 kilometers, it is also significantly smaller than Earth’s moon.

On September 15, 2025, Juno will end its mission by plunging into the gas giant during its seventy-sixth approach. Destroying the probe ensures that it will not crash into one of Jupiter’s moons that could support microbial life, such as Europa.

There are now two missions underway to take up Juno’s baton. JUICE, from the European Space Agency, which was launched last year and will arrive at the Jovian system in 2031. And Europa Clipper, from NASA, which was launched in October and will arrive at Jupiter in 2030 to study the habitability of the ocean under the ice. of Europe.

Images | NASA-JPL

In WorldOfSoftware | This is the reddest object in the entire solar system. We are referring to the little ball that is passing in front of Jupiter