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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Space grade electronics: How NASA’s Juno survives near Jupiter
Take a look at how electronics of spacecraft are built to survive the harshness of space environments.
Diving into Juno JIRAM data archives
The Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument can obtain images in two infrared bands. JIRAM can see the nightside of Jupiter (including the winter pole) and takes spectacular animations.
#AGU17: Spherical harmonics, gravity, and the depth of winds at Jupiter
Results from the Juno gravity science experiment presented at last week's American Geophysical Union meeting suggest Jupiter's winds penetrate only to 3000 kilometers deep.
#AGU17: JunoCam science
JunoCam may be an outreach instrument, but its superb photos of storms on Jupiter are providing plenty of data for scientists to talk about.
Brief note from #AGU17: Juno observes volcanism on Io
At the American Geophysical Union meeting, members of the Juno team showed observations of active volcanism on Jupiter's moon Io.
New treasures from Juno: Jupiter dazzles during fourth close approach
Image processor Björn Jónsson shares some of his latest stunning images of Jupiter, created using data from NASA's Juno spacecraft.
Juno just flew past Jupiter for the fifth time. What have we learned from the mission so far?
There's no verdict quite yet on the giant planet's core, and scientists are still gathering clues about the accuracy of our current solar system formation models.
Planetary discovery over the past quarter century
2016 marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of what has become one of the primary venues for the publication of research in planetary science: the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. This occasion is a good opportunity to look back at what we have learned in this era of expanded exploration and to try to take a peek at the future.
What's up in the solar system, November 2016 edition: Cassini takes a leap, ExoMars starts science, Long March 5 launch
Cassini is going to make a major change to its orbit, getting much close to Saturn, setting up 20
Juno to delay planned burn
The Juno mission posted a status report late Friday afternoon, indicating that they will not perform the originally planned period reduction maneuver during their next perijove (closest approach to Jupiter) on October 19. The delay changes the start date of the science mission and also all the future dates of Juno's perijoves.
What's up in the solar system, October 2016 edition: ExoMars arrives!
ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter arrives on October 19, and it will deliver the Schiaparelli lander to its brief life on the Martian surface. Juno's headed into its science orbit, MOM has released science data, and New Horizons will finally finish downlinking Pluto flyby data.
Juno and Marble Movie update at Apojove 1
Juno is on its second of two long orbits around Jupiter, reaching apojove (its farthest distance from the planet) today.
One year remains in the Cassini mission
Cassini ends a year from today, which is sad. But the final year of the mission is going to be awesome.
Juno's instruments return riches from first perijove
On August 27, Juno soared across Jupiter's cloud tops from pole to pole, with all instruments operating. NASA posted some terrific first results from several of the instruments today. And the JunoCam team released all 28 raw images taken during the close encounter.
Will Juno’s Instruments Observe the Moons of Jupiter?
It is not easy to observe Jupiter’s moons as more than points of light with Juno, because Juno will never get very close to any of the moons, but as its orbit shifts there will be opportunities to collect data on some of the moons.
Juno's first Jupiter close approach successful; best JunoCam images yet to come
NASA announced this afternoon that Juno passed through its first perijove since entering orbit successfully, with science instruments operating all the way. This is a huge relief, given all the unknowns about the effects of Jupiter's nasty radiation environment on its brand-new orbiter.
JunoCam "Marble Movie" data available
Since a few days after entering orbit, JunoCam has been taking photos of Jupiter every fifteen minutes, accumulating a trove of data that can be assembled into a movie of the planet.
Juno’s other ‘cameras’
Juno’s science goals are to understand the origin and interior of Jupiter, focusing specifically on its atmosphere and magnetic field. Cameras can help answer some of these questions.
JunoCam raw data from the Juno approach movie
As it approached Jupiter from June 12 to 29, JunoCam captured an animation of the major moons orbiting the planet. The mission released a processed version of the animation on the day of orbit insertion, but took a few weeks to release the raw image data. I've prepared a page hosting all the raw data, and share a few processed versions.
What's up in the solar system, August 2016 edition: Juno to get Jupiter close-ups, Rosetta descending, road-tripping rovers
This month we'll finally see JunoCam's first high-resolution images of Jupiter. We'll also see OSIRIS-REx making progress toward its September 8 launch. Both rovers are road-tripping at Mars, while ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter has completed a major mid-course correction ahead of its October arrival.