Juno mission: Five things to know about NASA's Jupiter probe

Image courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

New Delhi: NASA's Juno spacecraft is all set to make its third science flyby of Jupiter planet, the largest planet in our solar system on Sunday, December 11 at  9:04 a.m. PST (12:04 p.m. EST, 17:04 UTC).

According to NASA, Juno spacecraft will be about 2,580 miles above the gas giant’s roiling cloud tops and traveling at a speed of about 129,000 mph relative to the planet at the time of closest approach.

Here are some of the important things to know about NASA's Juno mission

• The Juno mission was launched August 5, 2011 to help improve our understanding of the solar system's beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of the planet.
• The spacecraft will map Jupiter’s gravity and magnetic fields to learn what the planet’s interior structure is like.
• Juno will help determine how much oxygen - whose most common form is in water - the planet holds. Some theories about Jupiter’s formation predict that the amount of oxygen in planet could weigh as much as 20 Earths!
• Juno will look deep into Jupiter's atmosphere to measure composition, temperature, cloud motions and other properties.
• It will take 14 days for Juno to complete each orbit, while Jupiter spins every 10 hours