NASA's Juno Spacecraft Completes Flyby over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

This illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft soaring over Jupiter’s south pole.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA's Juno mission completed a close flyby of Jupiter and its Great Red Spot on July 10, during its sixth science orbit.

All of Juno's science instruments and the spacecraft's JunoCam were operating during the flyby, collecting data that are now being returned to Earth. Juno's next close flyby of Jupiter will occur on the first of September.

Raw images from the spacecraft’s latest flyby will be posted in coming days.

"For generations people from all over the world and all walks of life have marveled over the Great Red Spot," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Now we are finally going to see what this storm looks like up close and personal."

The Great Red Spot is a 16,000-kilometer-wide storm that has been monitored since 1830 and has possibly existed for more than 350 years. In modern times, the Great Red Spot has appeared to be shrinking.

Source: NASA