The path of the Juno spacecraft imaged as it flies past Earth on October 9, 2013, using the iTelescope Observatory in Nerpio, Spain. Credit and copyright: Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Martino Nicolini/Remanzacco Observatory.
With the government shutdown, news out of NASA is sometimes sparse. But thankfully amateur astronomers can fill in some of the holes! While Juno’s project manager Rick Nybakken has confirmed that the spacecraft successfully completed its slingshot flyby of Earth yesterday, images taken by amateur astronomers around the world also conclusively confirm that Juno is now “bang on target!” tweeted Nick Howes of the Remanzacco Observatory team. This image from Howes, Ernesto Guido and Martino Nicolini shows the path of Juno across the sky, as seen from a remote telescope in Spain. “The spacecraft is trailed in the image due to its fast speed,” the team wrote on their website, and extrapolations of Juno’s orbit shows it is heading straight for Jupiter.
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Read the rest of Amateur Images Show Juno’s ‘Slingshot’ Around Earth Was a Success (136 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2013. |
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Post tags: flyby, Juno mission, Jupiter, Missions
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