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NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

nasa.gov

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Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#21

Post by chaitanya »

jessriedel wrote: post #18
neals wrote: post #17

Are we going to get amazing Pluto-like images, like that chilling closeup? They really impressed me A LOT. Or is Jupiter close enough for us to already know enough about its surface?

Jupiter either doesn't have a solid surface, or it lies very deep inside (like 4/5ths of the way to the center). So there isn't any surface to see, just clouds. Juno will be passing within 3,000 miles of the tops of Jupiter's clouds. Since Jupiter's radius is 43,000 miles, it will fill the entire frame. The only question is how high-quality the camera is. The camera is for public relations only (no science) and I don…

> At its closest approaches JunoCam could achieve 15 km/pixel resolution from 4300 km

In comparison, the highest resolution photos of Pluto from New Horizons achieved 80 meters per pixel from a closest approach of 12500 km. Its amazing how good the camera was on New Horizons.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-best-close-up-of-p...

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#22

Post by valarauca1 »

neals wrote: post #17

Are we going to get amazing Pluto-like images, like that chilling closeup? They really impressed me A LOT. Or is Jupiter close enough for us to already know enough about its surface?

>Are we going to get amazing Pluto-like images, like that chilling closeup?

No. The camera on Juno was literally an after thought. Originally it wasn't even going to have one. It's main job is studying magnetic fields and radiation belts.

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#23

Post by chiph »

jsingleton wrote: post #14

This is cool. Jupiter is easy to spot with the naked eye, as it's the second brightest object in the night sky after Venus (obviously, excluding the moon when lit). You can even see some of its moons with some basic optics. To think there is a probe there now is a pretty powerful image to inspire children. Something we couldn't do with the recent Pluto visit, as awesome as that was.

On a visit with the nieces, I took the eldest outside and using a night sky tracker app, pointed it out to her. "You know what that is?" {teenager sigh}"no. A star?" "No, that's a planet. It's Jupiter." She got a little more interested after that, but a career in astro-anything wasn't to be, looks like.

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#24

Post by andyjohnson0 »

rimantas wrote: post #6
wigster wrote: post #4

seems very blurry. Hopefully sharper ones to come.

But don't expect any images better than Galileo sent. Camera was not a priority for Juno.

There is some basic info on the vehicle and its payload at [1]. "The spacecraft will also carry a color camera, called JunoCam, to provide the public with the first detailed glimpse of Jupiter's poles." - so like you say, not a priority. More on JunoCam at [2].

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/spacecraft/index.htm...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JunoCam

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#25

Post by [deleted] »

jessriedel wrote: post #18
neals wrote: post #17

Are we going to get amazing Pluto-like images, like that chilling closeup? They really impressed me A LOT. Or is Jupiter close enough for us to already know enough about its surface?

Jupiter either doesn't have a solid surface, or it lies very deep inside (like 4/5ths of the way to the center). So there isn't any surface to see, just clouds. Juno will be passing within 3,000 miles of the tops of Jupiter's clouds. Since Jupiter's radius is 43,000 miles, it will fill the entire frame. The only question is how high-quality the camera is. The camera is for public relations only (no science) and I don…

[deleted]

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#27

Post by hipviz »

kchoudhu wrote: post #26

I understand the importance of this mission, but after the Curiosity skycrane, the Pluto flyby and the Rosetta orbiter, I'm really jonesing for something cool . What else is in the pipeline?

Solar Probe Plus will fly within 8.5 solar radii of the Sun into the hottest region of the sun, the corona, approaching speeds of 200 km/s and withstanding temperatures of 1400C.

We don't know why the corona of the sun is hotter than the surface of the sun. SPP will provide data to help us to better understand and create better models of coronal heating and the solar wind.

[1] http://solarprobe.jhuapl.edu/science/index.php

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#28

Post by peter303 »

kchoudhu wrote: post #26

I understand the importance of this mission, but after the Curiosity skycrane, the Pluto flyby and the Rosetta orbiter, I'm really jonesing for something cool . What else is in the pipeline?

SpaceX might launch a Mars lander during the 2018 low energy window. Though I am guessing more likely the 2020 window following that.

NASA is fully cooperating with SpaceX by doing things like providing detailed data of previous Mars landings. NASA is SpaceX largest customer and financier. Many ex-NASA people workmat SpaceX. These data are public. But it helps to have good communication channels.

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#29

Post by jessriedel »

chaitanya wrote: post #21
jessriedel wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jupiter either doesn't have a solid surface, or it lies very deep inside (like 4/5ths of the way to the center). So there isn't any surface to see, just clouds. Juno will be passing within 3,000 miles of the tops of Jupiter's clouds. Since Jupiter's radius is 43,000 miles, it will fill the entire frame. The only question is how high-quality the camera is. The camera is for public relations only (no science) and I don…

> At its closest approaches JunoCam could achieve 15 km/pixel resolution from 4300 km In comparison, the highest resolution photos of Pluto from New Horizons achieved 80 meters per pixel from a closest approach of 12500 km. Its amazing how good the camera was on New Horizons. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-horizons-best-close-up-of-p...

No doubt New Horizon's camera was phenomenal for the mission, but I'm actually not sure how good it was compared to something you could do with a terrestrial lens. (There are lots of compromises when you go to space.) Juno's camera is very modest by design: It's a wide-field of view and only a few megapixels, so basically a cell-phone camera.

Re: NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Sends First In-orbit View

#30

Post by peter303 »

kchoudhu wrote: post #26

I understand the importance of this mission, but after the Curiosity skycrane, the Pluto flyby and the Rosetta orbiter, I'm really jonesing for something cool . What else is in the pipeline?

A late 2020s Europa mission has been given development money. It will take about five years to launch and another five to arrive. Europa has a large interior ocean under the ice and maybhave life. It has enough energy to keep water liquid at certain depths and drive life.

A Europa mission might resemble Cassini and Juno: orbiting the main planet with frequent flybys of the moon. This requires less fuel and keeps the probe in the dangerous radio belts less of the time.

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