Juno On It's Way

Juno was launched on it's way to Jupiter last week on Friday, the latest in a long line of probes to visit the gas giant. Today's APOD shows the launch of Juno on top of an Atlas V rocket. Astrophysicists and space scientists are excited about Juno as it will be the first time since Galileo that a space craft has orbited the planet. Even more valuable it will do so in a polar orbit getting a good look at the north and south poles of the planet.

This is of particular interest to plasma physicists as Jupiter has the most powerful magnetic field in the Solar System (outside the Sun of course) which creates many interesting plasma effects. One of the most notable are the aurorae which can be seen from Earth. Even more fascinating is the auroral footprint of the moon Io, whose atmosphere is highly ionized. This ionized atmosphere means that Io creates many interesting plasma effects which Juno will be able to investigate.

Juno has another distinction as the furthest satellite we have sent which is powered solely by solar power. Since the solar flux at Jupiter is 25 times weaker than at Earth, Juno employs massive solar arrays to collect enough power. Juno will arrive at Jupiter in 2016 and will be deorbited into Jupiter upon completion of its one year mission.