Juno is at Jupiter now, but it’s not the only mission to visit the giant in our solar system.
37 years ago tomorrow, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest flyby of the Jovian world. On July 9, 1979 it flew within 350,000 miles of Jupiter.
The spacecraft sent back photos of the giant planet and it’s moons – check out the photo below of the moon Io in front of Jupiter.
Launched in 1977, Voyager 2 has a twin spacecraft, Voyager 1. Their initial purpose was to explore Jupiter and Saturn, but they have done much more than that.
Voyager 2 discovered active volcanos on Io – take a look! This was the first place other than Earth where these were found.
Voyager 2 also explored Uranus and Neptune, and is currently on the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM). The spacecraft is exploring what is beyond the region of the outer planets. Voyager 2 is more than 110 AU from Earth – that means it’s more than 110 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun!
Both spacecraft were able to make use of a rare arrangement of the outer planets. This happens approximately every 175 years, and enabled the mission to visit four planets by using gravity assists from one planet to the next.
It’s possible to see how far the Voyager spacecraft are from Earth in real time–click here!
NASA’s Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter earlier this week. From this mission, we will learn about the origin and evolution of the biggest planet in our solar system. It will also expand our understanding of the beginning of our solar system.