Juno Marks 50th Close Pass Of Jupiter; NASA Celebrates With Stunning Images

The Juno spacecraft made its 50th close pass of Jupiter over the weekend. NASA celebrated the massive feat by sharing some stunning highlights of the mission so far.

NASA's Juno mission has come quite a long way since it entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016. On April 8, nearly seven years later, Juno made its 50th close pass of the Gas Giant.

To celebrate the milestone, NASA shared 50 of the many stunning images that Juno has returned thus far. They were captured by various instruments and feature a variety of views, from pictures of the planet itself, its large moons and even of Earth.

The third image from the left in the first row, for instance, shows a majestic view of a "raging storm" on Jupiter. Captured in 2017 during its ninth close flyby, it features a rather intimidating view of the storm, looking quite like a massive eye. A larger view of the photo can be seen here.

The eighth image from the left of the last row shows a rather interesting view of a dark spot on the surface of the planet. This is the shadow of one of the planet's moons, Io, as per NASA.

The very last image on the graphic, the right-most image on the fifth row, showcases a rather groovy image of Jupiter. The very colorful image is said to be a "highly stylized" view of one of its other moons, Europa. This is said to be reminiscent of the retro-themed five-year-anniversary poster of the mission.

NASA also shared a short compilation of some of the breathtaking images of Jupiter that Juno has captured thus far, inviting more citizen scientists to try their hand at working on the Juno images as well.

"Did you know most JunoCam images you see are created by citizen scientists?" the agency noted. "These members of the public apply their tech skills and eye for beauty to the raw data Juno sends from Jupiter. This #CitizenScienceMonth, see their work & give it a try yourself."

These, of course, only show a small bit of the large chunk of images and data captured by Juno during its mission. Even though it experienced some setbacks, including the disruptions it experienced after its 47th close pass of Jupiter in December 2022 likely due to a spike in radiation, it has continued to provide valuable data.

Those who would like to share in Juno's journey may do so via NASA's Eyes on the Solar System tool. Here, enthusiasts may even watch a replay of some important events in the mission such as its Earth Flyby in 2013 and the Orbit Insertion in 2016.