NASA's Juno spacecraft completes fourth flyby of Jupiter

Image credit: NASA

New Delhi: NASA's Juno spacecraft completed a close flyby of Jupiter for the fourth time on Thursday, February 2, 2017.

As per NASA, Juno skimmed about 2,670 miles (4,300 kilometers) above Jupiter's cloud tops at 7:57 a.m. EST (1257 GMT) on Tursday morning (February 2), zooming by at 129,000 mph (208,000 km/h) relative to the giant planet.

During the flyby, all of Juno’s eight science instruments and the spacecraft's JunoCam were on to collect data that is now being returned to Earth.

Juno is currently in a 53-day orbit, and its next close flyby of Jupiter will occur on March 27, 2017.

During its flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring cloud cover of Jupiter and studying the gas giant's auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

Launched on August 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, Juno arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. During its mission of exploration, Juno soars low over the planet's cloud tops - as close as about 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometers).