The three LEGO figurines flying aboard the Juno spacecraft are the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei.

Three LEGO figurines representing the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and Galileo Galilei are shown here aboard the Juno spacecraft.

Technicians install components that will aid with guidance, navigation and control of NASA Juno spacecraft.

Technicians install components that will aid with guidance, navigation and control of NASA Juno spacecraft. Like most of Juno sensitive electronics, these components are situated within the spacecraft titanium radiation vault.

Technicians transfer NASA Juno spacecraft from its rotation fixture to the base of its shipping container in preparation for a move to environmental testing facilities. Juno’s main engine, its cover closed, is visible on the spacecraft’s underside.

NASA Juno spacecraft undergoes weight and balance testing at Astrotech payload processing facility, Titusville, Fla. June 16, 2011.

This illustration depicts NASA Juno spacecraft approaching Jupiter. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20702

NASA Juno Spacecraft Images Big Dipper

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. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20706

This illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft in orbit above Jupiter. From its unique polar orbit, Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20704

Technicians lift NASA Juno spacecraft onto a dolly prior to the start of a round of acoustical testing.

Technicians position NASA’s Juno spacecraft on a dolly prior to the start of a round of acoustical testing.

Technicians test the deployment of one of the three massive solar arrays that power NASA Juno spacecraft.

A computer-generated image depicts NASA Juno spacecraft firing its main engine.

An exposed, side view of NASA Juno spacecraft during its assembly features three of the spacecraft spherical propellant tanks.

This artist rendering shows NASA Juno spacecraft above the north pole of Jupiter.

This frame from a movie was captured by a star tracker camera on NASA Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft. It was taken over several days as Juno approached Earth for a close flyby that would send the spacecraft onward to the giant planet.

This image of NASA Juno spacecraft was taken as the vehicle completed its thermal vacuum chamber testing. A technician is attaching the lifting equipment in preparation for hoisting the 1,588-kilogram 3,500-pound spacecraft out of the chamber.

NASA Juno spacecraft awaits launch from inside the payload fairing atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V-551 launch vehicle. Juno and its rocket are at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

This computer-generated image depicts NASA Juno spacecraft firing its Leros-1b main engine.

Technicians test the deployment of one of the three massive solar arrays that power NASA Juno spacecraft.

Technicians prepare NASA Juno spacecraft for a functional test of its main engine cover.

Technicians test the deployment of one of the three massive solar arrays that power NASA Juno spacecraft.

Technicians test the deployment of one of the three massive solar arrays that power NASA Juno spacecraft.

Technicians stow for launch solar array #2 for NASA Juno spacecraft. The photo was taken on May 20, 2011 at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla.

Technicians use an overhead crane to lower NASA Juno spacecraft onto a fueling stand where the spacecraft will be loaded with the propellant necessary for its mission to Jupiter.

Technicians transfer NASA Juno spacecraft from its rotation fixture to the base of its shipping container in preparation for a move to environmental testing facilities.

Assembly began April 1, 2010, for NASA Juno spacecraft. Workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado workers are readying the spacecraft propulsion module.

NASA Juno spacecraft looms above the assembly floor as technicians prepare the Jupiter-bound probe for a round of testing that simulates the vibrations the spacecraft will experience during launch.

Technicians inspect NASA Juno spacecraft and its science instruments following acoustics testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo. on Jan. 26, 2011.

Technicians inspect NASA Juno spacecraft and its science instruments following acoustics testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colo. on Jan. 26, 2011.

This illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, with its solar arrays and main antenna pointed toward the distant sun and Earth. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20703

This color view from NASA's Juno spacecraft is made from some of the first images taken by JunoCam after the spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter on July 5th (UTC). The view shows that JunoCam survived its first pass through Jupiter's extreme radiation environment, and is ready to collect images of the giant planet as Juno begins its mission. The image was taken on July 10, 2016 at 5:30 UTC, when the spacecraft was 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter on the outbound leg of its initial 53.5-day capture orbit. The image shows atmospheric features on Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot, and three of Jupiter's four largest moons. JunoCam will continue to image Jupiter during Juno's capture orbits. The first high-resolution images of the planet will be taken on August 27 when the Juno spacecraft makes its next close pass to Jupiter. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20707

This movie was generated using imagery collected on Oct. 29, 2018, during Juno's 16th perijove (the point at which an orbit comes closest to Jupiter's center). Citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt created this movie using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. Movie available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22906. - Enhanced image by Gerald Eichstädt (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/SPICE

NASA's Juno spacecraft obtained this color view on June 21, 2016, at a distance of 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from Jupiter. As Juno makes its initial approach, the giant planet's four largest moons -- Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto -- are visible, and the alternating light and dark bands of the planet's clouds are just beginning to come into view. Juno is approaching over Jupiter's north pole, affording the spacecraft a unique perspective on the Jupiter system. Previous missions that imaged Jupiter on approach saw the system from much lower latitudes, closer to the planet's equator. The scene was captured by the mission's imaging camera, called JunoCam, which is designed to acquire high resolution views of features in Jupiter's atmosphere from very close to the planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20701

This artist's rendering shows NASA's Juno spacecraft making one of its close passes over Jupiter. Launched in 2011, the Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit. Juno will repeatedly dive between the planet and its intense belts of charged particle radiation, traveling from pole to pole in about an hour, and coming within 5,000 kilometers (about 3,000 miles) of the cloud tops at closest approach. Juno's primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter's formation and evolution. The spacecraft will spend a little over a year investigating the planet's origins, interior structure, deep atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's study of Jupiter will help us to understand the history of our own solar system and provide new insight into how planetary systems form and develop in our galaxy and beyond. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA19639

NASA has extended the mission of its Juno spacecraft exploring Jupiter. The agency's most distant planetary orbiter will now extend its investigation of the solar system's largest planet through September 2025, or until the spacecraft's end of life. This extension tasks Juno with becoming an explorer of the full Jovian system — Jupiter and its rings and moons — with multiple rendezvous planned for three of Jupiter's most intriguing Galilean moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Io. The prime mission operations will be completed in July 2021. Involving 42 additional orbits, the extended mission expands on discoveries Juno has already made about Jupiter's interior structure, internal magnetic field, atmosphere (including polar cyclones, deep atmosphere, and aurora) and magnetosphere. It includes close passes of Jupiter's north polar cyclones; the first extensive exploration of the faint rings encircling the planet; and flybys of the moons Ganymede, Europa, and Io. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24308

This image of the Jovian moon Ganymede was obtained by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon. At the time of closest approach, Juno was within 645 miles (1,038 kilometers) of its surface – closer to Jupiter's largest moon than any other spacecraft has come in more than two decades. This image is a preliminary product – Ganymede as seen through JunoCam's green filter. Juno is a spin-stabilized spacecraft (with a rotation rate of 2 rpm), and the JunoCam imager has a fixed field of view. To obtain Ganymede images as Juno rotated, the camera acquired a strip at a time as the target passed through its field of view. These image strips were captured separately through the red, green, and blue filters. To generate the final image product, the strips must be stitched together and colors aligned. At the time this preliminary image was generated, the "spice kernels" (navigation and other ancillary information providing precision observation geometry) necessary to properly map-project the imagery were not available. The red, and blue filtered image strips were also not available. When the final spice kernel data and images from the two filters are incorporated, the images seams (most prevalent on lower right of sphere) will disappear and a complete color image will be generated. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24681

This simulated view of the south pole of Jupiter illustrates the unique perspective of NASA Juno mission. Juno polar orbit will allow its camera, called JunoCam, to image Jupiter clouds from a vantage point never accessed by other spacecraft.

NASA's Juno spacecraft obtained this color view on June 28, 2016, at a distance of 3.9 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from Jupiter. As Juno nears its destination, features on the giant planet are increasingly visible, including the Great Red Spot. The spacecraft is approaching over Jupiter's north pole, providing a unique perspective on the Jupiter system, including its four large moons. The scene was captured by the mission's imaging camera, called JunoCam, which is designed to acquire high resolution views of features in Jupiter's atmosphere from very close to the planet. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20705

Technicians lowered a special radiation vault onto the propulsion module of NASA Juno spacecraft. The vault will dramatically slow the aging effect radiation has on the electronics for the duration of the mission.

At Space Launch Complex 41, the Juno spacecraft, enclosed in an Atlas payload fairing, was transferred into the Vertical Integration Facility where it was positioned on top of the Atlas rocket stacked inside.

Assembly began April 1, 2010, for NASA Juno spacecraft. Workers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver, Colorado are moving into place the vault that will protect the spacecraft sensitive electronics from Jupiter intense radiation belts.

NASA Juno spacecraft is readied for lifting out of a thermal vacuum chamber following testing to simulate the environment of space over the range of conditions the probe will encounter during its mission.

Once the radiation vault was installed on top of the propulsion module, NASA Juno spacecraft was lifted onto a large rotation fixture. The fixture allows the spacecraft to be turned for convenient access for integrating and testing instruments.

Assembly began April 1, 2010, for NASA Juno spacecraft in the high-bay cleanroom at Lockheed Martin in Denver, Colo. Workers are moving the radiation vault above a mock-up of the upper part of the spacecraft main body.

A technician inspects the special radiation vault being installed atop the propulsion module of NASA Juno spacecraft; the vault has titanium walls to protect the spacecraft electronic brain and heart from Jupiter harsh radiation environment.

NASA Juno spacecraft rests atop its rotation fixture awaiting transfer to a shipping crate prior to environmental testing; the large white square on the spacecraft right is largest of six microwave radiometer antennas, masked by protective covering.

This illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft soaring over Jupiter's south pole. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21771

The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this view of Jupiter's moon Io – the first-ever image of the moon's south polar region – during Juno's 60th flyby of Jupiter on Apr. 9, 2024. Citizen scientist Thomas Thomopoulos made this image by applying further processing to an image created from raw JunoCam data by another citizen scientist, Gerald Eichstädt. At the time the raw image was taken, Juno was about 10,250 miles (16,500 kilometers) above the surface of Io. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25697

During its close flyby of Jupiter on August 27, 2016, the Waves instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft received radio signals associated with the giant planet's very intense auroras. This video displays these radio emissions in a format similar to a voiceprint, showing the intensity of radio waves as a function of frequency and time. The largest intensities are indicated in warmer colors. The frequency range of these signals is from 7 to 140 kilohertz. Radio astronomers call these "kilometric emissions" because their wavelengths are about a kilometer long. The time span of this data is 13 hours, beginning shortly after Juno's closest approach to Jupiter. Accompanying this data display is an audio rendition of the radio emissions, shifted into a lower register since the radio waves are well above the audio frequency range. In the video, a cursor moves from left to right to mark the time as the sounds are heard. These radio emissions were among the first observed by early radio astronomers in the 1950s. However, until now, they had not been observed from closely above the auroras themselves. From its polar orbit vantage point, Juno has -- for the first time -- enabled observations of these emissions from very close range. The Juno team believes that Juno flew directly through the source regions for some of these emissions during this flyby, which was Juno's first with its sensors actively collecting data. A movie is available at http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21037

In this view of a vortex near Jupiter's north pole, NASA's Juno mission observed the glow from a bolt of lightning. On Earth, lightning bolts originate from water clouds, and happen most frequently near the equator, while on Jupiter lightning likely also occurs in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution, and can be seen most often near the poles. In the coming months, Juno's orbits will repeatedly take it close to Jupiter as the spacecraft passes over the giant planet's night side, which will provide even more opportunities for Juno's suite of science instruments to catch lightning in the act. Juno captured this view as Juno completed its 31st close flyby of Jupiter on Dec. 30, 2020. In 2022, Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the image from raw data from the JunoCam instrument aboard the spacecraft. At the time the raw image was taken, Juno was about 19,900 miles (32,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 78 degrees as it approached the planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25020

This infrared image gives an unprecedented view of the southern aurora of Jupiter, as captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft on August 27, 2016. The planet's southern aurora can hardly be seen from Earth due to our home planet's position in respect to Jupiter's south pole. Juno's unique polar orbit provides the first opportunity to observe this region of the gas-giant planet in detail. Juno's Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) camera acquired the view at wavelengths ranging from 3.3 to 3.6 microns -- the wavelengths of light emitted by excited hydrogen ions in the polar regions. The view is a mosaic of three images taken just minutes apart from each other, about four hours after the perijove pass while the spacecraft was moving away from Jupiter. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21033

This 50-second animation provides an auditory as well as visual glimpse at data collected by Juno's Waves instrument as the spacecraft flew past the Jovian moon Ganymede on June 7, 2021. The abrupt change to higher frequencies around the midpoint of the recording represents the spacecraft's move from one region of Ganymede's magnetosphere to another. The audio track is made by shifting the frequency of those emissions – which range from 10 to 50 kHz – into the lower audio range. The animation is shorter than the duration of Juno's flyby because the Waves data is edited onboard to reduce telemetry requirements. Movie available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25030

This diagram indicates the paths that NASA's Juno spacecraft took relative to Jupiter as the spacecraft repeatedly passed close by the giant planet over the course of five years, beginning in 2016, wrapping it in a dense net of observations ideally suited to mapping its magnetic field. Shown here are segments of the mission's first 32 high-inclination orbits, drawn from that part of each orbit passing very close to Jupiter, equally spaced in longitude. Juno has completed its first global mapping of the magnetic field, sampling it from pole to pole at about 11 degrees of separation in longitude between each orbit. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25061

This animation illustrates how the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft supports "attitude determination" -- the knowledge of which way Juno is pointing as the spacecraft navigates through space. The SRU takes images of star fields and searches for bright stars with known positions to help Juno obtain its bearings. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22961

This computer-generated image depicts the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft. The JIRAM instrument measures heat radiated from the planet at an infrared wavelength of around 5 microns. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23594

This artist rendering shows NASA Juno spacecraft during its Earth flyby gravity assist on Oct. 9, 2013. On Earth below, the southern Atlantic Ocean is visible, along with the coast of Argentina.

Workers place the special radiation vault for NASA Juno spacecraft onto the propulsion module. The whole vault, with more than 20 electronic assemblies inside, weighs about 200 kilograms 500 pounds.

Technicians installed the special radiation vault for NASA Juno spacecraft on the propulsion module. The radiation vault has titanium walls to protect the spacecraft electronic brain and heart from Jupiter harsh radiation environment.

Workers guide an overhead crane as it lifts the Centaur upper stage at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., June 24, 2011. The Centaur is slated to launch NASA Juno spacecraft on August 5.

This artist concept depicts the Juno spacecraft which will launch from Earth in 2011 and will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 to study the giant planet from an elliptical, polar orbit.

This animation shows the overlap of the field of view of Juno's Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera (in yellow) and Juno's Microwave Radiometer (MWR) Antenna-1 beam (in red). The animation depicts Juno flying over Jupiter's North pole where the planet's massive northern aurora is located. Juno observes Jupiter's lightning using multiple instruments which detect lightning at different parts of its spectrum. Animation avaiable at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22967

A long, brown oval known as a "brown barge" in Jupiter's North North Equatorial Belt is captured in this color-enhanced image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. This image was taken at 6:01 p.m. PDT (9:01 p.m. EDT) on Sept. 6, 2018, as the spacecraft performed its 15th close flyby of Jupiter. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created this image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22939. - Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

This trio of NASA Junocam views of Earth was taken during Juno close flyby on October 9, 2013.

This image of Earth at left and the moon at right was taken by NASA Juno spacecraft as part of a checkout of the probe instruments following launch.

On Oct. 9, NASA Juno spacecraft flew past Earth, using our home planet gravity to get the final boost it needed to reach Jupiter. The JunoCam instrument captured this monochrome view of Earth.

Juno's Radiation Monitoring Investigation used the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera to collect this high-resolution image Jupiter's northern auroral oval on May 24, 2018 (Perijove 13). Also present in the image are several small bright dots and streaks -- signatures of high energy relativistic electrons from polar beams that are penetrating the camera. The large bright dot in the lower right corner of the image is a flash of Jupiter's lightning. Juno was less than 37,000 miles (60,000 km) from the cloud tops when this SRU image was collected -- the closest view of Jupiter's aurora with a visible light imager. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22968

This image of the Jovian moon Io was generated using data collected by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft during a flyby of the moon on March 1, 2023. At the time of closest approach, Juno was about 32,000 miles (51,500 kilometers) away from Io. The image's resolution is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) per pixel. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created this image using data from JunoCam. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25885

Technicians installed a special radiation vault onto the propulsion module of NASA Juno spacecraft. Each titanium wall measures nearly a square meter nearly 10 square feet in area and about 1 centimeter a third of an inch in thickness.

On April 9, 2022, as NASA's Juno mission completed its 41st close flyby of Jupiter, its JunoCam instrument captured what it would look like to ride along with the spacecraft. Citizen scientist Andrea Luck created this animated sequence using raw JunoCam image data. At about 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) in diameter, Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. At the point of closest approach on April 9, Juno was just over 2,050 miles (3,300 kilometers) above Jupiter's colorful cloud tops. At that moment, it was traveling at about 131,000 MPH (210,000 kilometers per hour) relative to the planet. By comparison, at closest approach Juno was more than 10 times closer to Jupiter than satellites in geosynchronous orbit are to Earth, traveling at a speed about five times faster than the Apollo missions did when they left Earth for the Moon. Movie available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25016

The science phase of the Juno mission to the planet Jupiter is explained in a slideshow presented to Kennedy Space Center employees during a briefing by Scott Bolton, principal investigator for Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy, led the successful launch of the Juno spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 5, 2011 from nearby Space Launch Complex 41. Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will study our solar system’s largest planet until February 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Scott Bolton briefs employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the progress of the Juno mission to the planet Jupiter. Bolton is the principal investigator for Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy, led the successful launch of the Juno spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 5, 2011 from nearby Space Launch Complex 41. Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will study our solar system’s largest planet until February 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Scott Bolton briefs employees at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the progress of the Juno mission to the planet Jupiter. Bolton is the principal investigator for Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy, led the successful launch of the Juno spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 5, 2011 from nearby Space Launch Complex 41. Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will study our solar system’s largest planet until February 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

This animation gives an X-ray view of the Juno spacecraft's Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera (left) as it is bombarded by high-energy particles in Jupiter's inner radiation belts. Even though the SRU camera head is six times more heavily shielded than Juno's radiation vault, the highest-energy particles in Jupiter's extreme radiation environment can still penetrate, striking the imaging sensor inside. The signatures from high-energy electron and ion hits appear as dots, squiggles, and streaks (right) in the images collected by the SRU, like static on a television screen. Juno's Radiation Monitoring Investigation collects SRU images and uses image processing to extract these radiation-induced noise signatures to profile the radiation levels encountered by Juno during its close flybys of Jupiter. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24436

NASA Juno spacecraft is raised out of a thermal vacuum chamber following tests that simulated the environment of space over the range of conditions the probe will encounter during its mission.

Juno's Radiation Monitoring Investigation used the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera to collect this high-resolution image of the dark side of Jupiter during Perijove 11 on Feb. 7, 2018. The clouds are illuminated by moonlight from Jupiter's moon Io and the two bright spots on the right side of the image are flashes of Jovian lightning. Juno was only 41,000 miles (66,000 kilometers) from the cloud tops when this SRU image was collected. The left side of the composite image shows a 3-dimensional visualization of Jupiter's Northern hemisphere with its northern aurora included. To the right of the aurora and solar terminator line, is a box illustrating the position of the SRU field of view at the time the image was taken. Further to the right is an exploded view of the SRU image. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22965

If you could ride along with NASA's Juno spacecraft as it approaches Jupiter during one of its regular close passes by the giant planet, you would be treated to a striking vista similar to this one. Unlike the Moon or Venus, this view of Jupiter in a crescent phase is impossible to see from Earth, even using a telescope. Since Jupiter's orbit is outside Earth's, an observer on Earth can only see the side of Jupiter that is illuminated by the Sun, so the planet always appears full. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created this mosaic using raw data from the JunoCam instrument. It comprises seven images taken during Juno's 39th close pass by Jupiter on Jan. 12, 2022. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25013

This illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft in orbit above Jupiter's Great Red Spot. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21770

A long, brown oval known as a "brown barge" in Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt is captured in this color-enhanced image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. Brown barges are cyclonic regions that usually lie within Jupiter's dark North Equatorial Belt, although they are sometimes found in the similarly dark South Equatorial Belt as well. They can often be difficult to detect visually because their color blends in with the dark surroundings. At other times, as with this image, the dark belt material recedes, creating a lighter-colored background against which the brown barge is more conspicuous. Brown barges usually dissipate after the entire cloud belt undergoes an upheaval and reorganizes itself. Juno is giving us the first glimpses of the detailed structure within such a barge. This image was taken at 6:26 p.m. PDT on Sept. 6, 2018 (9:26 p.m. EDT) as the spacecraft performed its 15th close flyby of Jupiter. At the time, Juno was 7,425 miles (11,950 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops, above a southern latitude of approximately 22 degrees. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill created this image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. The image has been rotated 90 degrees to the right from the original image. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22688 . - Enhanced image by Kevin M. Gill (CC-BY) based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Juno's 53-day orbit has presented the opportunity to observe Jupiter's dark side. This animation is an artist's rendition of Juno's inbound -- over Jupiter's north pole -- approach to Perijove 17 (which occurred on Dec. 21, 2018). During the flyby the SRU obtained the closest view of Jupiter's aurora with a visible light imager to date. Animation available at https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22962

A "brown barge" in Jupiter's South Equatorial Belt is captured in this color-enhanced image from NASA's Juno spacecraft. This color-enhanced image was taken at 10:28 p.m. PDT on July 15, 2018 (1:28 a.m. EDT on July 16), as the spacecraft performed its 14th close flyby of Jupiter. Citizen scientist Joaquin Camarena created this image using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22940. Enhanced image by Joaquin Camarena based on images provided courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

This chart presents data that the Waves investigation on NASA's Juno spacecraft recorded as the spacecraft crossed the bow shock just outside of Jupiter's magnetosphere on June 24, 2016, while approaching Jupiter. Audio accompanies the animation, with volume and pitch correlated to the amplitude and frequency of the recorded waves. The graph is a frequency-time spectrogram with color coding to indicate wave amplitudes as a function of wave frequency (vertical axis, in hertz) and time (horizontal axis, with a total elapsed time of two hours). During the hour before Juno reached the bow shock, the Waves instrument was detecting mainly plasma oscillations just below 10,000 hertz (10 kilohertz). The frequency of these oscillations is related to the local density of electrons; the data yield an estimate of approximately one electron per cubic centimeter (about 16 per cubic inch) in this region just outside Jupiter's bow shock. The broadband burst of noise marked "Bow Shock" is the region of turbulence where the supersonic solar wind is heated and slowed by encountering the Jovian magnetosphere. The shock is analogous to a sonic boom generated in Earth's atmosphere by a supersonic aircraft. The region after the shock is called the magnetosheath. The vertical bar to the right of the chart indicates the color coding of wave amplitude, in decibels (dB) above the background level detected by the Waves instrument. Each step of 10 decibels marks a tenfold increase in wave power. When Juno collected these data, the distance from the spacecraft to Jupiter was about 5.56 million miles (8.95 million kilometers), indicated on the chart as 128 times the radius of Jupiter. Jupiter's magnetic field is tilted about 10 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation. The note of 22 degrees on the chart indicates that at the time these data were recorded, the spacecraft was 22 degrees north of the magnetic-field equator. The "LT" notation is local time on Jupiter at the longitude of the planet directly below the spacecraft, with a value of 6.2 indicating approximately dawn. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20753

Chuck Tatro, Launch Services Integration Branch Chief at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, recaps the Juno launch campaign in 2011 during a briefing for Kennedy employees. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy, led the successful launch of the Juno spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 5, 2011 from nearby Space Launch Complex 41. Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will study our solar system’s largest planet until February 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Chuck Tatro, Launch Services Integration Branch Chief at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, recaps the Juno launch campaign in 2011 during a briefing for Kennedy employees. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which is based at Kennedy, led the successful launch of the Juno spacecraft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Aug. 5, 2011 from nearby Space Launch Complex 41. Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, and will study our solar system’s largest planet until February 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

Data from the camera onboard NASA Juno mission, called JunoCam, will be made available to the public for processing into their own images. Illustrated here with an image of Jupiter taken by NASA Voyager mission.

This composite image depicts Jupiter's cloud formations as seen through the eyes of Juno's Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instrument as compared to the top layer, a Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem image of the planet. The MWR can see a couple of hundred miles (kilometers) into Jupiter's atmosphere with its largest antenna. The belts and bands visible on the surface are also visible in modified form in each layer below. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21107

Processed data from the Jovian InfraRed Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) spectrometer aboard NASA's Juno mission is superimposed on a mosaic of optical images from the agency's Galileo and Voyager spacecraft that shows grooved terrain on Jupiter's moon Ganymede. This composite image covers a portion of Phrygia Suclus, northeast of Nanshe Catena, on Ganymede. The data was taken by Juno during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon. The JIRAM data is represented by the colored line running from the upper left to lower right in the graphic. The line depicts an increase in intensity of the spectral signature of a non-ice compound, possibly ammonium chloride, in the groove at the lower right of the image. JIRAM "sees" infrared light not visible to the human eye. It measures heat radiated from the planet at an infrared wavelengths. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26075

During its close flyby of Earth, NASA Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft listened for a coordinated, global transmission from amateur radio operators using its radio and plasma wave science instrument, known as Waves.

This image shows NASA Juno spacecraft undergoing environmental testing at Lockheed Martin Space Systems on Jan. 26, 2011. All 3 solar array wings are installed and stowed, and the large high-gain antenna is in place on the top of the avionics vault.

During its 65th close flyby of Jupiter on Sept. 20, 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this series of images as it approached the giant planet and swung low over its north polar region. Juno's recent orbits have provided exceptionally clear views of Jupiter's circumpolar cyclones. At closest approach in this series of images, the Juno spacecraft was about 6,800 miles (11,000 kilometers) above the cloud tops, at a latitude of 82 degrees north of the equator. Citizen scientist Brian Swift made this image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, applying digital processing techniques to enhance color and clarity. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25730

NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this view of Jupiter during the mission's 54th close flyby of the giant planet on Sept. 7, 2023. The colorful zones and belts in Jupiter's atmosphere run from the cloud tops down to approximately 1,860 miles (3,000 kilometers). Citizen scientist Tanya Oleksuik made this image using raw data from the JunoCam instrument, processing the data to enhance details in cloud features and colors. At the time the raw image was taken, the Juno spacecraft was about 52,400 miles (about 84,400 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26077

This annotated map of depicts the areas on the surface of Jupiter's moon Ganymede that were imaged by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft during two close approaches of the moon. The region shaded in blue depicts the area JIRAM covered as Juno flew past at a distance of 62,000 miles (100,000 kilometers) on Dec. 26, 2019. The infrared camera took 40 images during the encounter. The region shaded in red illustrates JIRAM coverage during the July 20, 2021, flyby, when Juno came within 31,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) of Ganymede's surface and JIRAM took 14 infrared images. The different observational geometry of the flybys provided an opportunity to see the north polar region for the first time as well as compare the diversity in composition between Ganymede's low and high latitudes. JIRAM "sees" in infrared light not visible to the human eye, providing information on Ganymede's icy shell and the composition of the ocean of liquid water beneath. It was designed to capture the infrared light emerging from deep inside Jupiter, probing the weather layer down to 30 to 45 miles (50 to 70 kilometers) below Jupiter's cloud tops. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24792

This chart presents data that the Waves investigation on NASA's Juno spacecraft recorded as the spacecraft crossed the bow shock just outside of Jupiter's magnetosphere on June 24, 2016, while approaching Jupiter. Audio accompanies the animation, with volume and pitch correlated to the amplitude and frequency of the recorded waves. The graph is a frequency-time spectrogram with color coding to indicate wave amplitudes as a function of wave frequency (vertical axis, in hertz) and time (horizontal axis, with a total elapsed time of two hours). During the hour before Juno reached the bow shock, the Waves instrument was detecting mainly plasma oscillations just below 10,000 hertz (10 kilohertz). The frequency of these oscillations is related to the local density of electrons; the data yield an estimate of approximately one electron per cubic centimeter (about 16 per cubic inch) in this region just outside Jupiter's bow shock. The broadband burst of noise marked "Bow Shock" is the region of turbulence where the supersonic solar wind is heated and slowed by encountering the Jovian magnetosphere. The shock is analogous to a sonic boom generated in Earth's atmosphere by a supersonic aircraft. The region after the shock is called the magnetosheath. The vertical bar to the right of the chart indicates the color coding of wave amplitude, in decibels (dB) above the background level detected by the Waves instrument. Each step of 10 decibels marks a tenfold increase in wave power. When Juno collected these data, the distance from the spacecraft to Jupiter was about 5.56 million miles (8.95 million kilometers), indicated on the chart as 128 times the radius of Jupiter. Jupiter's magnetic field is tilted about 10 degrees from the planet's axis of rotation. The note of 22 degrees on the chart indicates that at the time these data were recorded, the spacecraft was 22 degrees north of the magnetic-field equator. The "LT" notation is local time on Jupiter at the longitude of the planet directly below the spacecraft, with a value of 6.2 indicating approximately dawn. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20753

Swirling clouds on Jupiter are shown in an image taken by the JunoCam public engagement camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft on Feb. 25, 2022. Juno's orbit around Jupiter changes every time the spacecraft passes the giant planet, with the point of closest approach – perijove, or "PJ" – moving steadily northward. As the perijove changes, the resolution of images taken in the northern hemisphere steadily increases. This zoomed-in cutout of a JunoCam image, acquired on PJ40 at 54 degrees north, shows new detail in the clouds and storms. Taken at an altitude of 4,133 miles (6,652 kilometers), the image reveals features as small as 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) across. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the images to enhance color and contrast. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25691

Red circles and arrows point to glowing thermal emission from active lava breakouts observed by the Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) on NASA's Juno spacecraft on Dec. 30, 2023, in the Zal Montes-Patera complex on Io. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA26521

JunoCam, the public engagement camera aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft, captured these views of Jupiter's moon Ganymede during a close pass on June 7, 2021. JunoCam was able to obtain significantly higher quality images compared to those taken by NASA's Voyager spacecraft in 1979 (upper left). In these images, JunoCam revealed 12 paterae – broad, shallow bowl-shaped features on a planetary body's surface – only two of which are evident in the Voyager data. These features were likely formed by late-stage volcanic processes. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25721

On Nov. 29, 2021, NASA's Juno mission completed its 38th close flyby of Jupiter. As the spacecraft sped low over the giant planet's cloud tops, its JunoCam instrument captured this look at two of Jupiter's largest moons. In the foreground, hurricane-like spiral wind patterns called vortices can be seen spinning in the planet's north polar region. These powerful storms can be over 30 miles (50 kilometers) in height and hundreds of miles across. Below Jupiter's curving horizon, two Jovian moons make an appearance: Callisto (below) and Io (above). Juno will make close flybys of Io in December 2023 and February 2024, the first such close encounters with this intriguing moon in over two decades. Io is the most volcanic body in our solar system, and its eruptions leave a trail of material behind that both fills Jupiter's magnetosphere and creates a torus of gas and dust around Jupiter. During the flybys, Juno will study Io's volcanoes and geology, search for signs of a magma ocean, and investigate how Io interacts with Jupiter's giant magnetosphere. Citizen scientist Gerald Eichstädt used raw JunoCam data to make the original version of this image, and then another citizen scientist, Thomas Thomopoulos, further processed it, zooming in and making color enhancements. In this view, north is down. At the time the image was taken, Juno was about 8,700 miles (14,000 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 69 degrees, traveling at a speed of about 123,000 mph (198,000 kilometers per hour) relative to the planet. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25019

During its 33rd low pass over the cloud tops of Jupiter on April 15, 2021, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured the intriguing evolution of a feature in the giant planet's atmosphere known as "Clyde's Spot." The feature is informally named for amateur astronomer Clyde Foster of Centurion, South Africa, who discovered it in 2020 using his own 14-inch telescope. On June 2, 2020, just two days after Foster's initial discovery, Juno provided detailed observations of Clyde's Spot (upper image), which scientists determined was a plume of cloud material erupting above the top layers of the Jovian atmosphere just southeast of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, which is currently about 1.3 times as wide as Earth. These powerful convective outbreaks occasionally occur in this latitude band, known as the South Temperate Belt. The initial plume subsided quickly, and within a few weeks it was seen as a dark spot. Many features in Jupiter's highly dynamic atmosphere are short lived, but the April 2021 observation from the JunoCam instrument (lower image) revealed that nearly one year after its discovery, the remnant of Clyde's Spot had not only drifted away from the Great Red Spot but had also developed into a complex structure that scientists call a folded filamentary region. This region is twice as big in latitude and three times as big in longitude as the original spot, and has the potential to persist for an extended period of time. The upper image was taken on June 2, 2020, around 3:56 a.m. when the spacecraft was about 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) from Jupiter's cloud tops. The lower image was taken on April 15, 2021, at 4:58 p.m. PDT (7:58 p.m. EDT). At the time, the spacecraft was about 16,800 miles (27,000 kilometers) from Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 30 degrees South. Another citizen scientist, Kevin M. Gill, processed both images from raw JunoCam data. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23609

On March 1, 2023, NASA's Juno mission completed its 49th close flyby of Jupiter. As the spacecraft flew low over the giant planet's cloud tops, its JunoCam instrument captured this look at bands of high-altitude haze forming above cyclones in an area known at Jet N7. Citizen scientist Björn Jónsson processed a raw image from the JunoCam instrument, enhancing the contrast and sharpness. At the time the image was taken, Juno was about 5,095 miles (8,200 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops, at a latitude of about 66 degrees. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25725