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 spectacular images that it transmitted back to Earth via a 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 recorded close encounters with three of Jupiter’s four main moons.

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

The Juno mission was supposed to end in 2018, but NASA has extended it several times. However, radiation is relentless, and the probe has begun to show signs of wear and tear on its instruments, including the JunoCam it used to take these photos.

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

On one of its final flybys, the spacecraft passed by Amalthea, Jupiter’s fifth moon, which is distinguished by its potato-shaped shape and deep red color (it is the reddest object in the entire solar system). With a radius of 84 kilometers, it is significantly smaller than Earth’s Moon.

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

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

Images | NASA-JPL

In Hatak | It is the reddest object in the entire solar system. We mean a small ball flying in front of Jupiter.