Video: Juno approach movie of Jupiter and the Galilean Moons

Juno
Credit: Southwest Research Institute

NASA's Juno spacecraft captured a unique time-lapse movie of the Galilean satellites in motion about Jupiter.

The movie begins on June 12th with Juno 10 million miles from Jupiter, and ends on June 29th, 3 million miles distant.

The innermost moon is volcanic Io; next in line is the ice-crusted ocean world Europa, followed by massive Ganymede, and finally, heavily cratered Callisto.

Galileo observed these moons to change position with respect to Jupiter over the course of a few nights.

From this observation he realized that the moons were orbiting mighty Jupiter, a truth that forever changed humanity's understanding of our place in the cosmos.

Earth was not the center of the Universe.

For the first time in history, we look upon these moons as they orbit Jupiter and share in Galileo's revelation. This is the motion of nature's harmony.

Credit: NASA

Provided by NASA

Citation: Video: Juno approach movie of Jupiter and the Galilean Moons (2016, July 6) retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-07-video-juno-approach-movie-jupiter.html
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