Meanwhile, at Jupiter . . .
Another bumped post. This is turning into a Blog Carnival of Space, but it’s worth it in sheer awesomeness. It’s too bad ongoing space exploration just doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the news. (PS: Work on the domestic cat ebook is going slowly but progressing steadily.)
September 5, 2018: Juno has found that Jupiter’s magnetic field is unique (also the Lego figures and, more importantly, the spacecraft’s electronics are holding, thus far, during the dives close to the giant planet.
Update, July 10, 2018: This week, NASA released a summary of the Juno Mission’s accomplishments over the last two years.
Original post:
We have three Lego figures orbiting the planet Jupiter now.
Seriously.
Why are the instruments in a titanium vault?
Well, for one thing, Jupiter “roars” at you, even before you get there:
For another, Jupiter’s radiation belts are much stronger than Earth’s. Reportedly, particles trapped in those belts actually hit the spacecraft like BBs.
Nevertheless, Juno and its Lego crew have been in orbit for a while now, and are doing well. The images coming back are incredible. You probably saw this one recently. It’s of polar storms:
Juno has also taken us into the Red Spot:
And recently, the Juno mission to Jupiter accomplished its chief goal by enabling astrophysicists to look inside the gas giant indirectly for the first time.
By doing this —
–scientists found that the Red Spot and all those bands at the surface are an extension of what is going on farther down in the planet.
You might be thinking “of course!”, but it’s not really simple. Look at the ocean and its currents. Deeper currents sometimes follow much different paths than those at the surface.
And Jupiter is a dense fluid, experts say, though it’s made out of hydrogen and helium, not water.
So, congratulations, Juno! You have succeeded at Jupiter, but my favorite series of images are still the ones you took years ago of my home and its orbiting Moon.
Featured image: Artist’s conception of Juno orbiting Jupiter. NASA.
Flight To Wonder 