Juno on Jupiter's doorstep: Stunning view of giant planet and its largest moons (Pic inside)!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

New Delhi: Just days ahead of its arrival at the giant planet next week, NASA's Juno spacecraft has obtained a colour view of Jupiter and its four largest moons.

On June 21, 2016, Juno captured this colour view of Jupiter's four largest moons -- Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto – at a distance of 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from the giant planet.

As Juno makes its initial approach, it was able to capture this spectacular image of Jupiter, its four largest moons, and the alternating light and dark bands of the planet's clouds.

As per NASA, the scene was captured by the mission's imaging camera, called JunoCam, which is designed to acquire high resolution views of features in Jupiter's atmosphere from very close to the planet.

Juno is approaching over Jupiter's north pole, affording the spacecraft a unique perspective on the Jupiter system.

Juno, launched in 2011, will arrive at Jupiter on July 4, 2016

Juno will also improve our understanding of the solar system's beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter.