NASA's Juno spacecraft depicts Jupiter as we can never see from Earth
Categories: SCIENCE NEWS
We have all the scientific gizmos at hand that let us peer into the deepest corners of space. The powerful telescopes we've built means we can literally go back in time and even look at celestial bodies that were formed in earlier universe. But sometimes, our observations from Earth are not able to capture space objects in a particular way just because we are on Earth.Take planet Jupiter for example. The gas giant is farther from Sun than Earth is. As Jupiter's orbit lies beyond Earth's orbit, we can only see face of Jupiter that is illuminated due to sunlight. A crescent of Jupiter can never be seen from Earth. But now, NASA's Juno spacecraft has offered glimpse into how a crescent of Jupiter. Juno spacecraft reached Jupiter in 2016 after a journey of 5 years through space. The spacecraft is hovering around the gas giant and its moon.Juno's mission team published an image of crescent of Jupiter on February 14. "If you could ride along with NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it approaches Jupiter during one of its regular close passes by the giant planet, you would be treated to a striking vista similar to this one", the blog saidThe planet can be seen partially illuminated due to sunlight. The photo was clicked using JunoCam. The camera took seven images during Juno’s 39th close pass by Jupiter on January 12.