VISUAL ARCHIVE / IMAGE STORY
Juno Still Over Jupiter
A mission portrait stands for years of measurements inside an environment hostile to electronics.
Juno was built to survive Jupiter long enough to answer a few questions. Instead, it outlived its deadline and made the largest planet in our solar system even more mysterious.
THE OBSERVATION
What we can actually see.
NASA's Juno spacecraft has orbited Jupiter since 2016, returning gravity, microwave, magnetic, and image data from polar passes. Those measurements have challenged simple models of the giant planet's core and revealed its changing atmosphere.
THE ILLUSTRATION
What the artwork imagines.
The position of the camera, the alignment of the spacecraft with cloud patterns, and any visible radiation effects are illustrative. No single pass displayed the planet's hidden core to a camera or revealed the future lifetime of the orbiter.
FROM THE ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE
The story that inspired it.
The article follows a spacecraft working beyond its original science plan, from Jupiter's diffuse interior to the ice of Europa and the volcanic activity of Io.
Read The Spacecraft That Was Supposed to Die at Jupiter Is Still Sending Back SecretsCHECK THE RECORD
The image interprets the research below. Follow the original work for the measurements and limits behind the scene.
NASA Juno missionOTHER IMAGE STORIES
A Probe Through the Radiation
A Core Known by Its Gravity
The Mark Shared by Titan and Pluto