NASA's Juno dives over Jupiter's cloud, captures incredible scenes

New Delhi : NASA Juno spacecraft is currently busy in a highly-elliptical 53-day orbit around Jupiter. During the trip, it has captured an incredible video of Jupiter's cloud tops, during a recent flyby of the planet.

Each orbit includes a close passage over Jupiter cloud deck, where it flies between the planet’s north and south poles. On December 21, the spacecraft will make its 16th flyby of the planet, at which point it will be 3,140 miles above the cloud tops.

Jack Connerney, Juno’s deputy principal investigator, said: “With our 16th science flyby, we will have complete global coverage of Jupiter, albeit at coarse resolution, with polar passes separated by 22.5 degrees of longitude.

“Over the second half of our prime mission - science flybys 17 through 32 - we will split the difference, flying exactly halfway between each previous orbit.

“This will provide coverage of the planet every 11.25 degrees of longitude, providing a more detailed picture of what makes the whole of Jupiter tick.”

NASA highly engineered Juno is able to collect important data about Jupiter, including its interior structure and atmosphere during each flyby.

Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno, said: “We have already rewritten the textbooks on how Jupiter's atmosphere works, and on the complexity and asymmetry of its magnetic field.

“The second half should provide the detail that we can use to refine our understanding of the depth of Jupiter's zonal winds, the generation of its magnetic field, and the structure and evolution of its interior."

To inform, Juno spacecraft was launched on August 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral and it entered orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016.