Jupiter Arrival

After traveling for nearly five years and more than 1.7 billion miles, NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Over the next 20 months, the solar-powered spacecraft will circle Jupiter at least three-dozen times, probing the gas giant with a suite of science instruments that will provide new insights about the planet’s atmosphere, internal structure and powerful magnetic field. In addition to these instruments, Juno carries a camera, called JunoCam, that will capture color images of Jupiter’s dense cloud cover and provide an unprecedented look at the planet’s dynamic polar regions. During each orbit, the spacecraft will come within 5,000 miles of Jupiter’s poles, providing opportunities for high-resolution shots taken at close range. Watch the video to see an animation that shows the path of Juno’s orbit around the planet.