Space & Astronomy

Juno set to fly over Jupiter's Great Red Spot

By T.K. Randall
July 10, 2017 ·  1 comment

An artist's impression of Juno in orbit around Jupiter. Image Credit: NASA / JPL The $1.1 billion spacecraft, which arrived in orbit around the gas giant back in July 2016, is set to unravel the secrets of Jupiter's Great Red Spot - a violent 10,000-mile-wide storm that has been raging in the planet's atmosphere for more than 350 years.

The probe, which is equipped with instruments capable of penetrating Jupiter's thick atmosphere, should be able to measure just how deep the roots of the storm actually are."Jupiter's mysterious Great Red Spot is probably the best-known feature of Jupiter," said mission principal investigator Scott Bolton from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

"This monumental storm has raged on the solar system's biggest planet for centuries."

The flyby is scheduled to take place at 9:55pm EDT (01:55 GMT) tonight.

Source: Phys.org | Comments (1)

Tags: Juno, Jupiter