Junocam, Juno Jupiter Orbiter

JunoCam and JDEA flight system.

Junocam is currently orbiting Jupiter, and acquiring 3-color (red, green, blue) and methane band images of Jupiter and its surrounding moons. This data is processed and studied by students and other members of the public as part of the Juno Education and Public Outreach effort. A photo of the Junocam electronics box (left) and camera head (right) are shown.
 

Launch: August 2011 Jupiter Arrival: July 2016 Camera Status: Orbiting Jupiter

 

Junocam has far surpassed the required eight orbit design life and continues to return stunning images of Jupiter and its moons. These images are captured at perijove, which is the orbital point when the Juno probe is closest to Jupiter. Junocam is derived from the MSL MARDI instrument, and returns images that are approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) per pixel at perijove and larger at the poles. The Juno mission is currently planned to continue until 2025.

The Juno mission to Jupiter is led by Principal Investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), in San Antonio, Texas. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California is managing the project, and Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver, Colorado built the spacecraft.

 

 Being a public outreach instrument, the images are released in a minimally processed form. On the left we have an image including the Great Red Spot from Perijove 17, and on the right is an image from Perijove 16.
Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS

 

The images are edited further by members of the public with beautiful results, such as this one of the South tropical disturbance- edited by Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran

 

Time-lapse sequence of Jupiter’s Northern hemisphere
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran

 

Jupiter’s North Temperate Belt
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran

 

South Polar Region of Jupiter
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt

 

Southern Hemisphere Cloud Belts of Jupiter
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

 

Jupiter and four moons, as captured at a distance of 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from Jupiter
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

 

Junocam attached to the spacecraft at JPL
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LMSS

 

NASA Juno Mission Web Site Juno’s Junocam Description