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Space

How Jupiter's powerful storms compare to weather on hot Jupiters

From the Great Red Spot to the extreme jet stream, Jupiter’s weather is intense, but that's nothing compared to the extraordinary storms and winds on other gas giants in the universe

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Space

Stunning photo of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io is our best in decades

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Juice launch 14/04/2023 ESA?s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an?Ariane 5 rocket?from?Europe?s Spaceport?in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet?s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Juice ? Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ??is humankind?s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will?characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter?s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe. Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth. Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

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How the JUICE mission will look for habitability on Jupiter's moons

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Space

Is it possible to drill a hole straight through a planet?

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https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2017/07/Exploring_Jupiter t may still be some years away from launch, and over a decade before our Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer reaches the gas giant and its icy moons, but preparations are well under way. This new artist?s impression depicts the final spacecraft design, the construction of which is being overseen by Airbus Defence and Space. The spacecraft?s solar wings form a distinctive cross-shape totalling 97 sq m, the largest ever flown on an interplanetary mission. The size is essential to generate sufficient power ? around 850 W ? for the instruments and spacecraft so far from the Sun. The spacecraft is furnished with a laboratory of instruments that will investigate Jupiter?s turbulent atmosphere and vast magnetosphere, as well as study the planet-sized moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. All three moons are thought to have oceans of liquid water beneath their icy crusts and should provide key clues on the potential for such moons to harbour habitable environments. Juice?s cameras will capture exquisite details of the moon?s features, as well as identify the ices and minerals on their surfaces. Other instruments will sound the subsurface and interior of the moons to better understand the location and nature of their buried oceans. The tenuous atmosphere around the moons will also be explored. The spacecraft will also include booms such as a 10 m-long magnetometer mast (seen towards the bottom of Juice in the artist impression), a 16 m radar antenna (the long boom across the top), and antennas to measure electric and magnetic fields. Ganymede is the only moon in the Solar System to generate its own internal magnetic field, and Juice is well equipped to document its behaviour and explore its interaction with Jupiter?s own magnetosphere. Juice is scheduled for launch in 2022 on a seven-year journey to the Jovian system. Its tour will include a dedicated orbit phase of Jupiter, targeted flybys of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, and finally nine months orbiting Ganymede ? the first time any moon beyond our own has been orbited by a spacecraft. In the artist?s impression, which is not to scale, Ganymede is shown in the foreground, Callisto to the far right, and Europa centre-right. Volcanically active moon Io is also shown, at left. The moons were imaged by NASA?s Galileo spacecraft; Jupiter is seen here with a vivid aurora, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/ATG medialab; Jupiter: NASA/ESA/J. Nichols (University of Leicester); Ganymede: NASA/JPL; Io: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona; Callisto and Europa: NASA/JPL/DLR

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How to spot Jupiter's icy moons

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Ariane 5 VA 260 with the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

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JUICE livestream: Watch the launch of ESA’s mission to Jupiter’s moons

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An artists' impression of ESA's JUICE spacecraft at Jupiter

Space

The JUICE mission to explore Jupiter’s ocean moons is about to launch

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Conjunction of Jupiter and Venus as seen from the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland

Space

What is the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and how can you view it?

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Webb NIRCam composite image of Jupiter from three filters ? F360M (red), F212N (yellow-green), and F150W2 (cyan) ? and alignment due to the planet's rotation.

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JWST has taken even more beautiful images of Jupiter and its aurora

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Scott Bolton on his missions to the gas giants of the solar system

Space

Scott Bolton on his missions to the gas giants of the solar system

After decades of heading NASA’s exploration of Saturn, Jupiter and their moons, the space physicist describes what we have learned and what future missions must now answer

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Space

James Webb Space Telescope team quietly releases a picture of Jupiter

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Space

Enormous impact flash seen lighting up Jupiter’s atmosphere

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Space

Jupiter's Great Red Spot extends far deeper than we realised

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Space

Mysterious X-ray flares on Jupiter come from magnetic field vibrations

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