The National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency of the United States has received the first image of Jupiter along with its three moons – Io, Europa and Ganymede – from its Juno spacecraft, reported BBC. The picture was taken on July 10, when the spacecraft was 4.3 million km from Jupiter, according to IANS.
The spacecraft, which is moving away from the planet right now, will again come close enough to take more and better photos in August. The rare image has captured the coloured atmospheric features on the planet, including the famous Great Red Spot.
Principal investigator from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Scott Bolton, said, “This scene from JunoCam indicates it survived its first pass through Jupiter’s extreme radiation environment without any degradation and is ready to take on Jupiter.” The agency will begin its study of Jupiter with the help of the spacecraft in October.
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