NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent out stunning new images of Jupiter’s Moonsand Io and Europa.
Juno’s latest view of the two moons was captured during the spacecraft’s flyby of 39 near Jupiter On January 12 at that time, the spacecraft was 38,000 miles (61,000 km) above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at about 52 degrees south latitude.
new picture Shared by NASA on March 16th, provides a stunning view of Jupiter’s southern hemisphere, with two of its many moons to the right of the frame. The magnified view shared by the agency also puts the moons in a clear view, with Io on the left and Europa on the right.
Pictures: Juno’s stunning views of Jupiter
Jupiter’s moon Io It is the largest volcanic body in the solar system. Hundreds of volcanoes dot its surface, some spewing sulfur plumes hundreds of miles high.
On the other hand Europa, the smallest of the four giant Galilean moons of Jupiter, has an icy surface, under which lies a global ocean of liquid water, scientists believe. Previous observations found evidence of possible water plumes flowing from Antarctica into Europe, indicating the presence of water in the Moon’s subsurface erupting through cracks in the ice crust.
The Juno spacecraft is expected to be the closest flew by Europa later this year, in September. During this flyby, the probe will use many of its scientific instruments to study Europa in more detail and capture more stunning views of the mysterious moon.
According to a NASA statement, the Juno mission will also approach Minor in late 2023 and early 2024. The mission is currently expected to end in September 2025.
Two major spacecraft will soon follow in the wake of Juno designed to focus exclusively on understanding the giant’s moons: NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).
The new buyer image has been processed by Citizen Andrea Lack, using raw data from the JunoCam tool. JunoCam raw images are Available online to the public; Community members can also suggest features on Jupiter for the camera to photograph.
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