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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6733

It's Never 'Groundhog Day' at Jupiter
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
February 1, 2017

NASA Juno Flies By Gas Giant

Updated Feb. 2, 2017 at 3:15 p.m. PST

NASA's Juno mission completed a close flyby of Jupiter on Thursday, Feb.
2, its latest science orbit of the mission.

All of Juno's science instruments and the spacecraft's JunoCam were operating during the flyby 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.

NASA's Juno spacecraft will make its fourth flyby over Jupiter's mysterious cloud tops on Thursday, Feb. 2, at 4:57 a.m. PST (7:57 a.m. EST, 12:57
UTC).

At the time of closest approach (called perijove), Juno will be about
2,670 miles (4,300 kilometers) above the planet's cloud tops and traveling
at a speed of about 129,000 mph (57.8 kilometers per second) relative
to the gas giant. All of Juno's eight science instruments, including the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, will be on and collecting data during the flyby.

"Tomorrow may be 'Groundhog Day' here on Earth, but it's never Groundhog
Day when you are flying past Jupiter," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator
of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "With every close flyby we are finding something new."

The Juno science team continues to analyze returns from previous flybys. Revelations include that Jupiter's magnetic fields and aurora are bigger
and more powerful than originally thought and that the belts and zones
that give the gas giant's cloud top its distinctive look extend deep into
the planet's interior. Peer-reviewed papers with more in-depth science
results from Juno's first three flybys are expected to be published within
the next few months. Also, JunoCam, the first interplanetary outreach
camera, is now being guided with the assistance from the public -- people
can participate by voting for what features on Jupiter should be imaged
during each flyby.

Information about JunoCam voting is available at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6722

Juno is currently in a 53-day orbit period around Jupiter as the team evaluates options for performing a maneuver to get the spacecraft into
a shorter orbit period. While the initial plan was for the mission was
to have 14-day orbits during this time, Juno can reveal amazing details
about Jupiter even if it stays in the longer orbits for the duration of
the mission.

Juno launched on Aug. 5, 2011, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and 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). During these flybys, Juno is probing beneath the obscuring
cloud cover of Jupiter and studying its auroras to learn more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Alabama, for the Science Mission Directorate. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.

More information on the Juno mission is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/juno

http://missionjuno.org

The public can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:

http://www.facebook.com/NASAJuno

http://www.twitter.com/NASAJuno

News Media Contact
DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov

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