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Planet Jupiter: Revealed

· NASA,Space,Space Exploration

Planet Jupiter: Revealed

Stunning images of never-before seen areas of the planet Jupiter have wowed the science community.

Juno, NASA’s $1.1 billion tennis-court sized robot, will remain flying until July 2021.

broken image

Initially, NASA intended to destroy the robot by crashing it into Jupiter’s clouds, because earthly microbes from Juno might contaminate Europa.

Europa is Jupiter’s moon, which may have a potentially habitable alien ocean under its icy crust.

However, the space agency decreed that the probe will continue flying until July 2021.

Juno was launched in August 2011, and has made 14 flybys around Jupiter.

These flybys, called perijoves, have allowed scientists gather images of the incredible giant planet.

Juno was the first probe to fly above and below Jupiter, and is helping to unravel its mysteries.

Written by Koray Williams, Edited by Rachel Weissman & Alexander Fleiss