NASA-JPL, Pasadena, California, USA
Date: Thursday, September 28 Duration: 30 min
The Juno mission launched in August 2011 and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Since then, the spacecraft has been studying the giant planet's structure, composition, and magnetic and gravitational fields, gathering data that mission scientists say should shed light on Jupiter's formation and evolution. Juno is in a highly elliptical orbit that brings it close to the planet once every 53.5 Earth days. The spacecraft collects most of its data during these close passes. Juno is scheduled to keep studying Jupiter through July 2018.