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Juno

Jupiter's defining characteristic is the Great Red Spot, a swirling vortex of gas nearly 10,250 miles (10,250) kilometers in bore. We don't know how long this giant storm has been agile, but it may have been observed as early on as 1664 past Robert Hooke. All these years afterwards, we're about to get our first upward-shut look at the Cracking Ruddy Spot thank you to the Juno probe. It's a expert thing, likewise—the Great Red Spot is shrinking fast, and we don't know why.

The Juno probe arrived in Orbit of Jupiter but over a twelvemonth ago, and has since maneuvered itself into an eccentric 53-solar day orbit of the planet. Information technology was originally supposed to shorten its orbital period to 20 days, but issues with helium valves essential to the main engines caused NASA to err on the side of caution. Juno has already sent back several rounds of data from Jupiter, but the side by side i will exist specially fascinating. This evening (July 10th), Juno will pass straight over the Corking Red Spot.

At half dozen:55 PM PDT today, Juno will reach its lowest altitude over Jupiter, just ii,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) higher up the cloud tops. Eleven minutes and 33 seconds after, Juno will be directly above the Bang-up Ruddy Spot, which itself protrudes above the rest of the clouds. Juno'south distance will have increased by this point in its flyby, but it volition nonetheless be a mere v,600 miles (9,000 kilometers) above the Ruby-red Spot. This is considerably closer than Voyager one got when it flew by Jupiter on its way out of the solar system in 1979.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot, taken past Voyager 1.

Juno is equipped with instruments designed to peer through the cloud layers and gather data on the inner workings of Jupiter'southward atmosphere. This could permit scientists to better understand what drives this massive tempest, which has persisted for centuries. Although, it'due south been shrinking quickly in contempo decades. In the tardily 1800s it was more than 25,000 miles in diameter, but at present it's but 10,250 miles across at its widest point. Astronomers calculate the tempest is shrinking by virtually 600 miles per year. No one knows if the Not bad Red Spot will continue fading away or if it'll ramp back up. Juno's observations might help the states effigy that out.

NASA volition utilize instruments like the microwave radiometer and gravity science module to assemble important data about the Slap-up Red Spot and underlying structures, simply there will likewise be some pretty pictures captured with the JunoCam. Some of the images sent dorsum from Juno'due south previous passes have been awe-inspiring, and these images could be the best yet. In the coming days, NASA should release between 10 and 100 images from this flyby, depending on the level of pinch used.