NASA Juno mission to Jupiter

[Rick]

Jupiter's Auroras Present a Powerful Mystery

Scientists on NASA's Juno mission have observed massive amounts of energy swirling over Jupiter's polar regions that contribute to the giant planet's powerful auroras - only not in ways the researchers expected.

Examining data collected by the ultraviolet spectrograph and energetic-particle detector instruments aboard the Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft, a team led by Barry Mauk of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, observed signatures of powerful electric potentials, aligned with Jupiter's magnetic field, that accelerate electrons toward the Jovian atmosphere at energies up to 400,000 electron volts. This is 10 to 30 times higher than the largest auroral potentials observed at Earth, where only several thousands of volts are typically needed to generate the most intense auroras -- known as discrete auroras -- the dazzling, twisting, snake-like northern and southern lights seen in places like Alaska and Canada, northern Europe, and many other northern and southern polar regions.

More: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6940

[Rick]

Jupiter's Magnetic Field from Juno

How similar is Jupiter's magnetic field to Earth's? NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft has found that Jupiter's magnetic field is surprisingly complex, so that the Jovian world does not have single magnetic poles like our Earth.

See https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200225.html

[ApophisAstros]

https://www.space.com/stunning-image-of-jupiter-from-nasa-juno.html?fbclid=IwAR3OJ3gln5LPVzZHbN1c8r6_ivt4f0z97dJi9LAyEzdoIbAZtc2Ainv7fvU&jwsource=cl
Sorry if a repost, with all thats happening ,something to take your mind away for a few moments.
Enjoy.
Roger

[Hugh]

Thanks Roger

I spent a wonderful 7 minutes watching the video you highlighted.  Apart from the absolutely stunning images of Jupiter ~ such modern art! ~ it was good to listen to the comments about the input from amatuer astronomers and 'Citizen Scientists'

We are anticipating putting out regular reports to members via, probably, extra editions of TOAST and I'll be sure to try to get this link included.

Keep safe and clear skies

Hugh

[Rick]

Juno what? Jupiter's Great Red Spot is much deeper than originally thought

Revelations that Jupiter's Great Red Spot is much deeper than believed and details on the planet's famous banded structures below its cloud layer were among the atmospheric insights collected by NASA's Juno probe and published in science journals today.

Juno entered a polar orbit of Jupiter in 2016 and is the first mission that has been able to peek behind the massive gas giant's dense layer of clouds. It has flown by the planet 37 times to date, equipped with, among other measuring instruments, a microwave radiometer (MWR) that collects data on Jupiter's atmospheric structure, movement, and chemical composition up to 342 miles below the top of the clouds.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/jupiter_juno_data/

[Rick]

NASA hacked hardware of camera orbiting Jupiter – and fixed it
Deliberate overheating brought relief to Juno probe's camera, twice

NASA has revealed that one of the cameras on the Juno craft it sent to Jupiter malfunctioned, and that it fixed it with some very, very, remote hardware hacking.

NASA designed the visible light JunoCam to survive for eight orbits of Jupiter – about 400 days – but wasn't confident it would last much longer as its optical unit is outside the titanium-walled radiation vault that houses the probe's electronics.

NASA's pessimism was unfounded as JunoCam worked until Juno's first 46 orbits, but on the 47th "began showing hints of radiation damage."

Boffins at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory thought they knew what was causing the problem – a damaged voltage regulator in JunoCam's power supply.

More: https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/22/nasa_juno_annealing_camera_fix/

[Dave A]

Amazing what they can do now
Hacking from so far away- great technology

[Rick]

NASA's been at that game for quite a while. Voyager's another good example, though that was more stretching the craft's capabilities by upgrading software in flight.