NASA on edge as Juno nears Jupiter

By Amanda Barnett, CNN
Updated 11:43 PM EDT, Mon July 4, 2016
This artist rendering shows Juno orbiting Jupiter. The spacecraft will study Jupiter from a polar orbit, coming about 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) from the cloud tops of the gas giant.
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PHOTO: NASA
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Story highlights

Tense moments coming for mission managers

Juno spacecraft has to make tricky maneuver

(CNN) —  

While most Americans are out watching fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, a group of scientists will be huddled in a small, glass conference room at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California, on Monday night to listen for a series of tones.

Those tones may not rival the national anthem, but they will tell Juno mission managers whether the spacecraft has successfully performed a “suspenseful” maneuver that will allow it to be pulled into orbit around Jupiter.

“Oh my God, we’re going in!” said an admittedly nervous Scott Bolton – the principal investigator for Juno with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

Watch NASA’s live stream of the approach

Bolton and the rest of the Juno team will hover over their computer monitors and wait as Juno hits its brakes. It will fire its main engine for 35 minutes starting at 8:18 p.m. PDT (11:18 p.m. ET). That should slow the spacecraft by about 1,212 miles per hour (542 meters per second) and allow it to be pulled into orbit around Jupiter.

It will be about 9:30 p.m. PT (12:30 a.m. ET Tuesday) before Juno sends back tones indicating whether it has successfully completed the engine firing.

If the maneuver doesn’t work, the solar-powered space probe’s batteries might die before it swings back around Jupiter to face the sun.

“I’m really just nervous that the whole orbit insertion rocket burn is going to work enough to get us into orbit and then allow us to turn back to the sun before we run out of battery power,” Bolton said at a news conference.

“You’re on battery power,” he said. “The whole game is get back to the sun before you run out of battery.”

He says he won’t exhale until Juno’s huge solar arrays are safely back in sunlight. “I’m most scared of not quite getting back on the sun.”

Juno has been speeding toward Jupiter for nearly five years. It’s a spinning, robotic probe as wide as a basketball court. It looks a bit like a flying windmill.

If all goes as planned, Juno will circle Jupiter 37 times over 20 months, diving down to about 2,600 miles (4,100 kilometers) above the planet’s dense clouds. The seven science instruments on board will study Jupiter’s auroras and help scientists better understand the planet’s origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere.

This jack-o-lantern-esque view of Jupiter is a mosaic of images taken by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. The bright spots represent Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This jack-o-lantern-esque view of Jupiter is a mosaic of images taken by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. The bright spots represent Jupiter's internal heat escaping through holes in the planet's massive cloud cover.
PHOTO: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.H. Wong/Mahdi Zamani
Part of Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Part of Jupiter's southern equatorial region can be seen in this image captured by Juno's JunoCam imager. But it's flipped to show the expanse of Jupiter's atmosphere, with the poles to the left and right, rather than top to bottom.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill
In this image captured by Juno, six cyclones remain stable at Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
In this image captured by Juno, six cyclones remain stable at Jupiter's south pole. A small cyclone, seen at the bottom right in yellow, has recently joined the party.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM
An artist
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
An artist's impression of a collision between a young Jupiter and a massive, still-forming protoplanet in the early solar system.
PHOTO: K. Suda & Y. Akimoto/Mabuchi Design Office/Astrobiology Center Japan
These dramatic swirls on Jupiter are atmospheric features. Clouds swirl around a circular feature in a jet stream region.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
These dramatic swirls on Jupiter are atmospheric features. Clouds swirl around a circular feature in a jet stream region.
PHOTO: Kevin M. Gill/NASA
Is that a dolphin on Jupiter? No, but it definitely looks like one. It
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Is that a dolphin on Jupiter? No, but it definitely looks like one. It's actually a cloud that looks like it's swimming through cloud bands along the South Temperate Belt.
PHOTO: Brian Swift/Seán Doran/NASA
This composite image, derived from data collected by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This composite image, derived from data collected by the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter, shows the central cyclone at the planet's north pole and the eight cyclones that encircle it.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/JIRAM/NASA
This striking image of Jupiter was captured by NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This striking image of Jupiter was captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft as it performed its eighth flyby of the gas giant.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
Algorithmic-based scaling and coloring reveal a vivid look at the Great Red Spot in July 2017.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Algorithmic-based scaling and coloring reveal a vivid look at the Great Red Spot in July 2017.
PHOTO: Shawn Handran/NASA
Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a storm with a 10,000-mile-wide cluster of clouds in July 2017.
PHOTO: NASA
Color enhancements offer a detailed look into the Great Red Spot.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Color enhancements offer a detailed look into the Great Red Spot.
PHOTO: Tom Momary/NASA
NASA configured this comparison of its own image of Earth with an image of Jupiter taken by astronomer Christopher Go.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
NASA configured this comparison of its own image of Earth with an image of Jupiter taken by astronomer Christopher Go.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Christopher Go
This artist
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This artist's concept shows the pole-to-pole orbits of the NASA's Juno spacecraft at Jupiter.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI
This image shows Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This image shows Jupiter's south pole, as seen by NASA's Juno spacecraft from an altitude of 32,000 miles (52,000 kilometers). The oval features are cyclones, up to 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) in diameter. Multiple images taken with the JunoCam instrument on three orbits were combined to show all areas in daylight, enhanced color and stereographic projection.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Betsy Asher Hall/Gervasio Robles
An even closer view of Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
An even closer view of Jupiter's clouds obtained by NASA's Juno spacecraft.
PHOTO: NASA/SWRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran
Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Jupiter's north polar region comes into view as NASA's Juno spacecraft approaches the giant planet. This view of Jupiter was taken when Juno was 437,000 miles (703,000 kilometers) away during its first of 36 orbital flybys of the planet.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/NASA
This infrared image gives an unprecedented view of the southern aurora of Jupiter, as captured by NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This infrared image gives an unprecedented view of the southern aurora of Jupiter, as captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft on August 27, 2016. Juno's unique polar orbit provides the first opportunity to observe this region of the gas-giant planet in detail.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ASI/INAF/J
NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
NASA's Juno spacecraft has sent back its first photo of Jupiter, left, since entering into orbit around the planet. The photo is made from some of the first images taken by JunoCam and shows three of the massive planet's four largest moons: from left, Io, Europa and Ganymede.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
An illustration depicts NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
An illustration depicts NASA's Juno spacecraft entering Jupiter's orbit. Juno will study Jupiter from a polar orbit, coming about 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) from the cloud tops of the gas giant.
PHOTO: Caltech/JPL/NASA
This was the final view of Jupiter taken by Juno before the on-board instruments were powered down to prepare for orbit. The image was taken June 29, 2016, while the spacecraft was 3.3 million miles (5.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This was the final view of Jupiter taken by Juno before the on-board instruments were powered down to prepare for orbit. The image was taken June 29, 2016, while the spacecraft was 3.3 million miles (5.3 million kilometers) from Jupiter.
PHOTO: NASA
NASA
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter's auroras on the poles of the gas giant. The observations were supported by measurements taken by Juno.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/J. Nichols
This artist rendering shows Juno orbiting Jupiter.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
This artist rendering shows Juno orbiting Jupiter.
PHOTO: NASA
Jupiter and the gaseous planet
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Jupiter and the gaseous planet's four largest moons -- Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto -- are seen in a photo taken by Juno on June 21, 2016. The spacecraft was 6.8 million miles (10.9 million kilometers) from the planet.
PHOTO: NASA
Juno made a flyby of Earth in October 2014. This trio of images was taken by the spacecraft
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Juno made a flyby of Earth in October 2014. This trio of images was taken by the spacecraft's JunoCam.
PHOTO: NASA
Three Lego figurines are flying aboard the Juno spacecraft. They represent the Roman god Jupiter; his wife, Juno; and Galileo Galilei, the scientist who discovered Jupiter
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Three Lego figurines are flying aboard the Juno spacecraft. They represent the Roman god Jupiter; his wife, Juno; and Galileo Galilei, the scientist who discovered Jupiter's four largest moons on January 7, 1610.
PHOTO: NASA
Jupiter was 445 million miles (716 million kilometers) from Earth when Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 5, 2011. But the probe traveled a total distance of 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to reach Jupiter, making a flyby of Earth to help pick up speed.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Jupiter was 445 million miles (716 million kilometers) from Earth when Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 5, 2011. But the probe traveled a total distance of 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to reach Jupiter, making a flyby of Earth to help pick up speed.
PHOTO: NASA
Technicians use a crane to lower Juno onto a stand where the spacecraft was loaded with fuel for its mission.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Technicians use a crane to lower Juno onto a stand where the spacecraft was loaded with fuel for its mission.
PHOTO: NASA
Technicians test the three massive solar arrays that power the Juno spacecraft. In this photo taken February 2, 2011, each solar array is unfurled at a Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Denver.
Photos: Juno, meet Jupiter
Technicians test the three massive solar arrays that power the Juno spacecraft. In this photo taken February 2, 2011, each solar array is unfurled at a Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Denver.
PHOTO: NASA

“Some of the challenges are we are going into the most treacherous place in the entire solar system, radiation fields that are really intense,” Juno project manager Rick Nybakken told CNN’s Paul Vercammen.

The planet is the most massive in our solar system – Jupiter is a huge ball of gas 11 times wider than Earth. Researchers think it was the first planet to form and that it holds clues to how the solar system evolved.

Spacecraft have been to Jupiter before. The Galileo probe was the first to study Jupiter from orbit. But scientists still are puzzled by the gas giant.

What’s going on under Jupiter’s dense clouds? Does it have a solid core? How much water is in its atmosphere? And how deep are those colorful bands and that mysterious giant red spot?

“Jupiter looks a lot like the sun,” Bolton said. But it has much more than the sun, and that’s really important.

“The stuff that Jupiter has more of is what we’re all made out of,” he said. “It’s what the Earth is made out of. It’s what life comes from.”

Juno will help solve the mysteries of Jupiter by looking at its interior. The spacecraft will orbit the poles and try to dodge the planet’s most hazardous radiation belts. To protect the spacecraft from the radiation, Juno has a shielded electronics vault.

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Photos: Wonders of the universe
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PHOTO: Laurent Chemin/ESA/Gaia/DPAC
The Blue Ring Nebula is thought to be a never-before-seen phase that occurs after the merger of two stars. Debris flowing out from the merger was sliced by a disk around one of the stars, creating two cones of material glowing in ultraviolet light.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
The Blue Ring Nebula is thought to be a never-before-seen phase that occurs after the merger of two stars. Debris flowing out from the merger was sliced by a disk around one of the stars, creating two cones of material glowing in ultraviolet light.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/M. Seibert/K. Hoadley/GALEX Team
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Photos: Wonders of the universe
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Photos: Wonders of the universe
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Galaxy UGC 2885, nicknamed the "Godzilla galaxy," may be the largest one in the local universe.
Photos: Wonders of the universe
Galaxy UGC 2885, nicknamed the "Godzilla galaxy," may be the largest one in the local universe.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/B. Holwerda (University of Louisville)
The host galaxy of a newly traced repeating fast radio burst acquired with the 8-meter Gemini-North telescope.
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The host galaxy of a newly traced repeating fast radio burst acquired with the 8-meter Gemini-North telescope.
PHOTO: Danielle Futselaar/artsource.nl
The Milky Way
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The Milky Way's central region was imaged using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory/ESO/Nogueras-Lara et al.
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This is an artist's illustration of what MAMBO-9 would look like in visible light. The galaxy is very dusty and it has yet to build most of its stars. The two components show that the galaxy is in the process of merging.
PHOTO: NRAO/AUI/NSF/B. Saxton
Astronomers have found a white dwarf star surrounded by a gas disk created from an ice giant planet being torn apart by its gravity.
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Astronomers have found a white dwarf star surrounded by a gas disk created from an ice giant planet being torn apart by its gravity.
PHOTO: Mark A. Garlick/University of Warwick
New measurements of the black hole at the center of the Holm 15A galaxy reveal it
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New measurements of the black hole at the center of the Holm 15A galaxy reveal it's 40 billion times more massive than our sun, making it the heaviest known black hole to be directly measured.
PHOTO: Matthias Kluge/USM/MPE
This image, which combines observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Karl Jansky Very Large Array, shows a black hole that is triggering star formation nearly one million light-years away from it. The large red bubble on the left is a hot gas bubble and the dots of light to the right of it are four galaxies where star formation has increased. The host galaxy of the black hole that released the gas bubble is the bright point of light to the right of the golden light at the center.
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This image, which combines observations from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Karl Jansky Very Large Array, shows a black hole that is triggering star formation nearly one million light-years away from it. The large red bubble on the left is a hot gas bubble and the dots of light to the right of it are four galaxies where star formation has increased. The host galaxy of the black hole that released the gas bubble is the bright point of light to the right of the golden light at the center.
PHOTO: CXC/INAF/R. Gilli et al/NRAO/VLA/STScI/NASA
A close-up view of an interstellar comet passing through our solar system can be seen on the left. On the right, astronomers used an image of Earth for comparison.
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A close-up view of an interstellar comet passing through our solar system can be seen on the left. On the right, astronomers used an image of Earth for comparison.
PHOTO: Pieter van Dokkum/Cheng-Han Hsieh/Shany Danieli/Gregory Laughlin
The galaxy NGC 6240 hosts three supermassive black holes at its core.
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The galaxy NGC 6240 hosts three supermassive black holes at its core.
PHOTO: P Weilbacher (AIP), NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage
Gamma-ray bursts are shown in this artist
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Gamma-ray bursts are shown in this artist's illustration. They can be triggered by the collision or neutron stars or the explosion of a super massive star, collapsing into a black hole.
PHOTO: Science Communication Lab/DESY
Two gaseous clouds resembling peacocks have been found in neighboring dwarf galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. In these images by the ALMA telescopes, red and green highlight molecular gas while blue shows ionized hydrogen gas.
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Two gaseous clouds resembling peacocks have been found in neighboring dwarf galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. In these images by the ALMA telescopes, red and green highlight molecular gas while blue shows ionized hydrogen gas.
PHOTO: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/NASA/ALMA
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An artist's impression of the Milky Way's big black hole flinging a star from the galaxy's center.
PHOTO: James Josephides/Swinburne Astronomy Productions
The Jack-o
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The Jack-o'-lantern Nebula is on the edge of the Milky Way. Radiation from the massive star at its center created spooky-looking gaps in the nebula that make it look like a carved pumpkin.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/NASA
This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures two galaxies of equal size in a collision that appears to resemble a ghostly face. This observation was made on 19 June 2019 in visible light by the telescope
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This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures two galaxies of equal size in a collision that appears to resemble a ghostly face. This observation was made on 19 June 2019 in visible light by the telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA
A new SPHERE/VLT image of Hygiea, which could be the Solar System
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A new SPHERE/VLT image of Hygiea, which could be the Solar System's smallest dwarf planet yet. As an object in the main asteroid belt, Hygiea satisfies right away three of the four requirements to be classified as a dwarf planet: it orbits around the Sun, it is not a moon and, unlike a planet, it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. The final requirement is that it have enough mass that its own gravity pulls it into a roughly spherical shape. This is what VLT observations have now revealed about Hygiea.
PHOTO: P. Vernazza et al./MISTRAL algorithm/ESO
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This is an artist's rendering of what a massive galaxy from the early universe might look like. The rendering shows that star formation in the galaxy is lighting up the surrounding gas. Image by James Josephides/Swinburne Astronomy Productions, Christina Williams/University of Arizona and Ivo Labbe/Swinburne.
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This is an artist's illustration of gas and dust disk around the star HD 163296. Gaps in the disk are likely the location of baby planets that are forming.
PHOTO: Robin Dienel/The Carnegie Institution for Science
This is a two-color composite image of comet 2I/Borisov captured by the Gemini North telescope on September 10.
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This is a two-color composite image of comet 2I/Borisov captured by the Gemini North telescope on September 10.
PHOTO: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA
This illustration shows a young, forming planet in a "baby-proof" star system.
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This illustration shows a young, forming planet in a "baby-proof" star system.
PHOTO: MPIA Graphics Department
Using a simulation, astronomers shed light on the faint gaseous filaments that comprise the cosmic web in a massive galaxy cluster.
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Using a simulation, astronomers shed light on the faint gaseous filaments that comprise the cosmic web in a massive galaxy cluster.
PHOTO: Joshua Borrow
The Hubble Space Telescope
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The Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera observed Saturn in June as the planet made its closest approach to Earth this year, at approximately 1.36 billion kilometers away.
PHOTO: A. Simon/M.H. Wong/ESA/NASA
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An artist's impression of the massive bursts of ionizing radiation exploding from the center of the Milky Way and impacting the Magellanic Stream.
PHOTO: James Josephides/ASTRO 3D
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding off material from their surrounding birth disk.
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The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array captured this unprecedented image of two circumstellar disks, in which baby stars are growing, feeding off material from their surrounding birth disk.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory/ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/Alves et al
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This is an artist's illustration of what a Neptune-size moon would look like orbiting the gas giant exoplanet Kepler-1625b in a star system 8,000 light-years from Earth. It could be the first exomoon ever discovered.
PHOTO: Dan Durda/Southwest Research Institute
This infrared image from NASA
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This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows a cloud of gas and dust full of bubbles, which are inflated by wind and radiation from massive young stars. Each bubble is filled with hundreds to thousands of stars, which form from dense clouds of gas and dust.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/NASA
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This is an artist's impression of the path of the fast radio burst FRB 181112 traveling from a distant host galaxy to reach the Earth. It passed through the halo of a galaxy on the way.
PHOTO: M. Kornmesser/ESO
After passing too close to a supermassive black hole, the star in this artist
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After passing too close to a supermassive black hole, the star in this artist's conception is torn into a thin stream of gas, which is then pulled back around the black hole and slams into itself, creating a bright shock and ejecting more hot material.
PHOTO: Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science.
Comparison of GJ 3512 to the Solar System and other nearby red-dwarf planetary systems. Planets around a solar-mass stars can grow until they start accreting gas and become giant planets such as Jupiter, in a few millions of years. But we thought that small stars such as Proxima, TRAPPIST-1, TeegardernÕs star and GJ 3512, could not form Jupiter mass planets.
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Comparison of GJ 3512 to the Solar System and other nearby red-dwarf planetary systems. Planets around a solar-mass stars can grow until they start accreting gas and become giant planets such as Jupiter, in a few millions of years. But we thought that small stars such as Proxima, TRAPPIST-1, TeegardernÕs star and GJ 3512, could not form Jupiter mass planets.
PHOTO: Guillem Anglada-Escude/IEEC/SpaceEngine.org
A collision of three galaxies has set three supermassive black holes on a crash course with each other in a system one billion light-years from Earth.
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A collision of three galaxies has set three supermassive black holes on a crash course with each other in a system one billion light-years from Earth.
PHOTO: NASA/CXC/George Mason Univ./R. Pfeifle et al.
2I/Borisov is the first interstellar comet observed in our solar system and only the second observed interstellar visitor to our solar system.
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2I/Borisov is the first interstellar comet observed in our solar system and only the second observed interstellar visitor to our solar system.
PHOTO: Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA
KIC 8462852, also known as Boyajian
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KIC 8462852, also known as Boyajian's Star or Tabby's Star, is 1,000 light-years from us. It's 50% bigger than our sun and 1,000 degrees hotter. And it doesn't behave like any other star, dimming and brightening sporadically. Dust around the star, depicted here in an artist's illustration, may be the most likely cause of its strange behavior.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech
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This is an artist's impression of a massive neutron star's pulse being delayed by the passage of a white dwarf star between the neutron star and Earth. Astronomers have detected the most massive neutron star to date due to this delay.
PHOTO: BSaxton/NRAO/AUI/NSF
The European Southern Observatory
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The European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope captured a stunning image of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of our nearest galactic neighbors. The near-infrared capability of the telescope showcases millions of individual stars.
PHOTO: ESO/VMC Survey
Astronomers believe Comet C/2019 Q4 could be the second known interstellar visitor to our solar system. It was first spotted on August 30 and imaged by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Hawaii
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Astronomers believe Comet C/2019 Q4 could be the second known interstellar visitor to our solar system. It was first spotted on August 30 and imaged by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope on Hawaii's Big Island on September 10, 2019.
PHOTO: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/NASA
A star known as S0-2, represented as the blue and green object in this artist
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A star known as S0-2, represented as the blue and green object in this artist's illustration, made its closest approach to the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way in 2018. This provided a test for Einstein's theory of general relativity.
PHOTO: Nicolle R. Fuller/National Science Foundation
This is a radio image of the Milky Way
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This is a radio image of the Milky Way's galactic center. The radio bubbles discovered by MeerKAT extend vertically above and below the plane of the galaxy.
PHOTO: Oxford/SARAO
A kilanova was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2016, seen here next to the red arrow. Kilanovae are massive explosions that create heavy elements like gold and platinum.
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A kilanova was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2016, seen here next to the red arrow. Kilanovae are massive explosions that create heavy elements like gold and platinum.
PHOTO: E. Troja/ESA/NASA
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This is an artist's depiction of a black hole about to swallow a neutron star. Detectors signaled this possible event on August 14.
PHOTO: Carl Knox/OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence
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This artist's illustration shows LHS 3844b, a rocky nearby exoplanet. It's 1.3 times the mass of Earth and orbits a cool M-dwarf star. The planet's surface is probably dark and covered in cooled volcanic material, and there is no detectable atmosphere.
PHOTO: R. Hurt/NASA
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An artist's concept of the explosion of a massive star within a dense stellar environment.
PHOTO: Joy Pollard/Gemini
Galaxy NGC 5866 is 44 million light-years from Earth. It appears flat because we can only see its edge in this image captured by NASA
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Galaxy NGC 5866 is 44 million light-years from Earth. It appears flat because we can only see its edge in this image captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Hubble Space Telescope took a dazzling new portrait of Jupiter, showcasing its vivid colors and swirling cloud features in the atmosphere.
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The Hubble Space Telescope took a dazzling new portrait of Jupiter, showcasing its vivid colors and swirling cloud features in the atmosphere.
PHOTO: A. Simon/ M.H. Wong/ESA/Hubble/NASA
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This is an artist's impression of the ancient massive and distant galaxies observed with ALMA.
PHOTO: NAOJ
Glowing gas clouds and newborn stars make up the Seagull Nebula in one of the Milky Way galaxy
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Glowing gas clouds and newborn stars make up the Seagull Nebula in one of the Milky Way galaxy's spiral arms.
PHOTO: ESO/VPHAS+ team/N.J. Wright (Keele University)
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An artist's concept of what the first stars looked like soon after the Big Bang.
PHOTO: Wise, Abel, Kaehler (KIPAC/SLAC)
Spiral galaxy NGC 2985 lies roughly over 70 million light years from our solar system in the constellation of Ursa Major.
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Spiral galaxy NGC 2985 lies roughly over 70 million light years from our solar system in the constellation of Ursa Major.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA
Early in the history of the universe, the Milky Way galaxy collided with a dwarf galaxy, left, which helped form our galaxy
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Early in the history of the universe, the Milky Way galaxy collided with a dwarf galaxy, left, which helped form our galaxy's ring and structure as it's known today.
PHOTO: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC)
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An artist's illustration of a thin disc embedded in a supermassive black hole at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 3147, 130 million light-years away.
PHOTO: M. Kornmesser/ESA/Hubble
Hubble captured this view of a spiral galaxy named NGC 972 that appears to be blooming with new star formation. The orange glow is created as hydrogen gas reacts to the intense light streaming outwards from nearby newborn stars.
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Hubble captured this view of a spiral galaxy named NGC 972 that appears to be blooming with new star formation. The orange glow is created as hydrogen gas reacts to the intense light streaming outwards from nearby newborn stars.
PHOTO: L. Ho/ESA/Hubble/NASA
This is jellyfish galaxy JO201.
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This is jellyfish galaxy JO201.
PHOTO: Callum Bellhouse and the GASP collaboration
The Eta Carinae star system, located 7,500 light-years from Earth, experienced a great explosion in 1838 and the Hubble Space Telescope is still capturing the aftermath. This new ultraviolet image reveals the warm glowing gas clouds that resemble fireworks.
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The Eta Carinae star system, located 7,500 light-years from Earth, experienced a great explosion in 1838 and the Hubble Space Telescope is still capturing the aftermath. This new ultraviolet image reveals the warm glowing gas clouds that resemble fireworks.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/N. Smith/J. Morse
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'Oumuamua, the first observed interstellar visitor to our solar system, is shown in an artist's illustration.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory/ESO/M. Kornmesser
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This is an artist's rendering of ancient supernovae that bombarded Earth with cosmic energy millions of years ago.
PHOTO: NASA
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An artist's impression of CSIRO's Australian SKA Pathfinder radio telescope finding a fast radio burst and determining its precise location.
PHOTO: CSIRO/Dr Andrew Howells
The Whirlpool galaxy has been captured in different light wavelengths. On the left is a visible light image. The next image combines visible and infrared light, while the two on the right show different wavelengths of infrared light.
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The Whirlpool galaxy has been captured in different light wavelengths. On the left is a visible light image. The next image combines visible and infrared light, while the two on the right show different wavelengths of infrared light.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Electrically charged C60 molecules, in which 60 carbon atoms are arranged in a hollow sphere that resembles a soccer ball, was found by the Hubble Space Telescope in the interstellar medium between star systems.
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Electrically charged C60 molecules, in which 60 carbon atoms are arranged in a hollow sphere that resembles a soccer ball, was found by the Hubble Space Telescope in the interstellar medium between star systems.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech
These are magnified galaxies behind large galaxy clusters. The pink halos reveal the gas surrounding the distant galaxies and its structure. The gravitational lensing effect of the clusters multiplies the images of the galaxies.
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These are magnified galaxies behind large galaxy clusters. The pink halos reveal the gas surrounding the distant galaxies and its structure. The gravitational lensing effect of the clusters multiplies the images of the galaxies.
PHOTO: ESO/NASA/ESA/A.Claeyssens
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This artist's illustration shows a blue quasar at the center of a galaxy.
PHOTO: Michelle Vigeant
The NICER detector on the International Space Station recorded 22 months of nighttime X-ray data to create this map of the entire sky.
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The NICER detector on the International Space Station recorded 22 months of nighttime X-ray data to create this map of the entire sky.
PHOTO: NASA/NICER
NASA
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this mosaic of the star-forming Cepheus C and Cepheus B regions.
PHOTO: NASA
Galaxy NGC 4485 collided with its larger galactic neighbor NGC 4490 millions of years ago, leading to the creation of new stars seen in the right side of the image.
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Galaxy NGC 4485 collided with its larger galactic neighbor NGC 4490 millions of years ago, leading to the creation of new stars seen in the right side of the image.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA
Astronomers developed a mosaic of the distant universe, called the Hubble Legacy Field, that documents 16 years of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. The image contains 200,000 galaxies that stretch back through 13.3 billion years of time to just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
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Astronomers developed a mosaic of the distant universe, called the Hubble Legacy Field, that documents 16 years of observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. The image contains 200,000 galaxies that stretch back through 13.3 billion years of time to just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA
A ground-based telescope
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A ground-based telescope's view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of our Milky Way. The inset was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and shows one of the star clusters in the galaxy.
PHOTO: NASA, ESA, Adam Riess, and Palomar Digitized Sky Survey
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PHOTO: STScI/ESA/NASA
One of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky and first discovered in 1878, nebula NGC 7027 can be seen toward the constellation of the Swan.
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One of the brightest planetary nebulae on the sky and first discovered in 1878, nebula NGC 7027 can be seen toward the constellation of the Swan.
PHOTO: Hubble Legacy Archive/ESA/NASA
The asteroid 6478 Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. The Gault asteroid is located 214 million miles from the Sun, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
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The asteroid 6478 Gault is seen with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, showing two narrow, comet-like tails of debris that tell us that the asteroid is slowly undergoing self-destruction. The bright streaks surrounding the asteroid are background stars. The Gault asteroid is located 214 million miles from the Sun, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/K. Meech/J. Kleyna/Univ. of Hawaii/O. Hainaut/European Southern Observatory
The ghostly shell in this image is a supernova, and the glowing trail leading away from it is a pulsar.
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The ghostly shell in this image is a supernova, and the glowing trail leading away from it is a pulsar.
PHOTO: Composite by Jayanne English/University of Manitoba
Hidden in one of the darkest corners of the Orion constellation, this Cosmic Bat is spreading its hazy wings through interstellar space two thousand light-years away. It is illuminated by the young stars nestled in its core — despite being shrouded by opaque clouds of dust, their bright rays still illuminate the nebula.
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Hidden in one of the darkest corners of the Orion constellation, this Cosmic Bat is spreading its hazy wings through interstellar space two thousand light-years away. It is illuminated by the young stars nestled in its core — despite being shrouded by opaque clouds of dust, their bright rays still illuminate the nebula.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory
In this illustration, several dust rings circle the sun. These rings form when planets
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In this illustration, several dust rings circle the sun. These rings form when planets' gravities tug dust grains into orbit around the sun. Recently, scientists have detected a dust ring at Mercury's orbit. Others hypothesize the source of Venus' dust ring is a group of never-before-detected co-orbital asteroids.
PHOTO: Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith/NASA
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This is an artist's impression of globular star clusters surrounding the Milky Way.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble, L. Watkins, L. Calçada
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An artist's impression of life on a planet in orbit around a binary star system, visible as two suns in the sky.
PHOTO: Mark Garlick
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An artist's illustration of one of the most distant solar system objects yet observed, 2018 VG18 -- also known as "Farout." The pink hue suggests the presence of ice. We don't yet have an idea of what "FarFarOut" looks like.
PHOTO: Roberto Molar Candanosa/Carnegie Institution
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This is an artist's concept of the tiny moon Hippocamp that was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope. Only 20 miles across, it may actually be a broken-off fragment from a much larger neighboring moon, Proteus, seen as a crescent in the background.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/J. Olmsted (STScl)
In this illustration, an asteroid (bottom left) breaks apart under the powerful gravity of LSPM J0207+3331, the oldest, coldest white dwarf known to be surrounded by a ring of dusty debris. Scientists think the system
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In this illustration, an asteroid (bottom left) breaks apart under the powerful gravity of LSPM J0207+3331, the oldest, coldest white dwarf known to be surrounded by a ring of dusty debris. Scientists think the system's infrared signal is best explained by two distinct rings composed of dust supplied by crumbling asteroids.
PHOTO: Scott Wiessinger/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
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An artist's impression of the warped and twisted Milky Way disk. This happens when the rotational forces of the massive center of the galaxy tug on the outer disk.
PHOTO: Chao Liu/National Astronomical Observatories/Chinese Academy of Sciences
This 1.3-kilometer (0.8-mile)-radius Kuiper Belt Object discovered by researchers on the edge of the solar system is believed to be the step between balls of dust and ice and fully formed planets.
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This 1.3-kilometer (0.8-mile)-radius Kuiper Belt Object discovered by researchers on the edge of the solar system is believed to be the step between balls of dust and ice and fully formed planets.
PHOTO: Dr. Ko Arimatsu/Kyoto University/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
A selfie taken by NASA
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A selfie taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Vera Rubin Ridge before it moves to a new location.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/MSSS/NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope found a dwarf galaxy hiding behind a big star cluster that
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The Hubble Space Telescope found a dwarf galaxy hiding behind a big star cluster that's in our cosmic neighborhood. It's so old and pristine that researchers have dubbed it a "living fossil" from the early universe.
PHOTO: ESA/L. Bedin/NASA
How did massive black holes form in the early universe? The rotating gaseous disk of this dark matter halo breaks apart into three clumps that collapse under their own gravity to form supermassive stars. Those stars will quickly collapse and form massive black holes.
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How did massive black holes form in the early universe? The rotating gaseous disk of this dark matter halo breaks apart into three clumps that collapse under their own gravity to form supermassive stars. Those stars will quickly collapse and form massive black holes.
PHOTO: John Wise/Georgia Institute of Technology
NASA
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NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope captured this image of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy to our own Milky Way galaxy. Astrophysicists now believe it could collide with our galaxy in two billion years.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/STScI/NASA
A mysterious bright object in the sky, dubbed "The Cow," was captured in real time by telescopes around the world. Astronomers believe that it could be the birth of a black hole or neutron star, or a new class of object.
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A mysterious bright object in the sky, dubbed "The Cow," was captured in real time by telescopes around the world. Astronomers believe that it could be the birth of a black hole or neutron star, or a new class of object.
PHOTO: Dustin Lang/Legacy Surveys project
An illustration depicts the detection of a repeating fast radio burst from a mysterious source 3 billion light-years from Earth.
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An illustration depicts the detection of a repeating fast radio burst from a mysterious source 3 billion light-years from Earth.
PHOTO: ASTRON/NOVA
Comet 46P/Wirtanen will pass within 7 million miles of Earth on December 16. It
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Comet 46P/Wirtanen will pass within 7 million miles of Earth on December 16. It's ghostly green coma is the size of Jupiter, even though the comet itself is about three-quarters of a mile in diameter.
PHOTO: Alex Cherney/Terrastro
This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on December 2 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles.
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This mosaic image of asteroid Bennu is composed of 12 PolyCam images collected on December 2 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 15 miles.
PHOTO: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
This image of a globular cluster of stars by the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most ancient collections of stars known. The cluster, called NGC 6752, is more than 10 billion years old.
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This image of a globular cluster of stars by the Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most ancient collections of stars known. The cluster, called NGC 6752, is more than 10 billion years old.
PHOTO: NASA
An image of Apep captured with the VISIR camera on the European Southern Observatory
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An image of Apep captured with the VISIR camera on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. This "pinwheel" star system is most likely doomed to end in a long-duration gamma-ray burst.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory/University of Sydney
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An artist's impression of galaxy Abell 2597, showing the supermassive black hole expelling cold molecular gas like the pump of a giant intergalactic fountain.
PHOTO: Courtesy of NRAO/AUI/NSF; D. Ber
An image of the Wild Duck Cluster, where every star is roughly 250 million years old.
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An image of the Wild Duck Cluster, where every star is roughly 250 million years old.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory
These images reveal the final stage of a union between pairs of galactic nuclei in the messy cores of colliding galaxies.
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These images reveal the final stage of a union between pairs of galactic nuclei in the messy cores of colliding galaxies.
PHOTO: NASA, ESA, and M. Koss
A radio image of hydrogen gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers believe that the dwarf galaxy is slowly dying and will eventually be consumed by the Milky Way.
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A radio image of hydrogen gas in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers believe that the dwarf galaxy is slowly dying and will eventually be consumed by the Milky Way.
PHOTO: Naomi McClure-Griffiths et al, C
Further evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has been found. This visualization uses data from simulations of orbital motions of gas swirling around about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit around the black hole.
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Further evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy has been found. This visualization uses data from simulations of orbital motions of gas swirling around about 30% of the speed of light on a circular orbit around the black hole.
PHOTO: ESO/Gravity Consortium/L. Calça
Does this look like a bat to you? This giant shadow comes from a bright star reflecting against the dusty disk surrounding it.
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Does this look like a bat to you? This giant shadow comes from a bright star reflecting against the dusty disk surrounding it.
PHOTO: NASA/STScI
Hey, Bennu! NASA
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Hey, Bennu! NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, on its way to meet the primitive asteroid Bennu, is sending back images as it gets closer to its December 3 target.
PHOTO: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona
These three panels reveal a supernova before, during and after it happened 920 million light-years from Earth(from left to right). The supernova, dubbed iPTF14gqr, is unusual because although the star was massive, its explosion was quick and faint. Researchers believe this is due to a companion star that siphoned away its mass.
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These three panels reveal a supernova before, during and after it happened 920 million light-years from Earth(from left to right). The supernova, dubbed iPTF14gqr, is unusual because although the star was massive, its explosion was quick and faint. Researchers believe this is due to a companion star that siphoned away its mass.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt
An artist
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An artist's illustration of Planet X, which could be shaping the orbits of smaller extremely distant outer solar system objects like 2015 TG387.
PHOTO: Roberto Molar Candanosa and Scott Sheppard/Carnegie Institution for Science
This is an artist
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This is an artist's concept of what SIMP J01365663+0933473 might look like. It has 12.7 times the mass of Jupiter but a magnetic field 200 times more powerful than Jupiter's. This object is 20 light-years from Earth. It's on the boundary line between being a planet or being a brown dwarf.
PHOTO: Chuck Carter/NRAO/AUI/NSF
The Andromeda galaxy cannibalized and shredded the once-large galaxy M32p, leaving behind this compact galaxy remnant known as M32. It is completely unique and contains a wealth of young stars.
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The Andromeda galaxy cannibalized and shredded the once-large galaxy M32p, leaving behind this compact galaxy remnant known as M32. It is completely unique and contains a wealth of young stars.
PHOTO: Thomas M. Brown
Twelve new moons have been found around Jupiter. This graphic shows various groupings of the moons and their orbits, with the newly discovered ones shown in bold.
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Twelve new moons have been found around Jupiter. This graphic shows various groupings of the moons and their orbits, with the newly discovered ones shown in bold.
PHOTO: Roberto Molar-Candanosa/Carnegie Institution for Science
Scientists and observatories around the world were able to trace a high-energy neutrino to a galaxy with a supermassive, rapidly spinning black hole at its center, known as a blazar. The galaxy sits to the left of Orion
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Scientists and observatories around the world were able to trace a high-energy neutrino to a galaxy with a supermassive, rapidly spinning black hole at its center, known as a blazar. The galaxy sits to the left of Orion's shoulder in his constellation and is about 4 billion light-years from Earth.
PHOTO: IceCube/NASA
Planets don
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Planets don't just appear out of thin air -- but they do require gas, dust and other processes not fully understood by astronomers. This is an artist's impression of what "infant" planets look like forming around a young star.
PHOTO: S. Dagnello/NRAO/AUI/NSF
These negative images of 2015 BZ509, which is circled in yellow, show the first known interstellar object that has become a permanent part of our solar system. The exo-asteroid was likely pulled into our solar system from another star system 4.5 billion years ago. It then settled into a retrograde orbit around Jupiter.
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These negative images of 2015 BZ509, which is circled in yellow, show the first known interstellar object that has become a permanent part of our solar system. The exo-asteroid was likely pulled into our solar system from another star system 4.5 billion years ago. It then settled into a retrograde orbit around Jupiter.
PHOTO: C. Veillet/Large Binocular Telescope Observatory
A close look at the diamond matrix in a meteorite that landed in Sudan in 2008. This is considered to be the first evidence of a proto-planet that helped form the terrestrial planets in our solar system.
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A close look at the diamond matrix in a meteorite that landed in Sudan in 2008. This is considered to be the first evidence of a proto-planet that helped form the terrestrial planets in our solar system.
PHOTO: Dr. F. Nabiei/Dr. E. Oveisi, EPFL, Switzerland
2004 EW95 is the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial solar system. This curious object probably formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before being flung billions of miles to its current home in the Kuiper Belt.
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2004 EW95 is the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial solar system. This curious object probably formed in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter before being flung billions of miles to its current home in the Kuiper Belt.
PHOTO: ESO/M. Kornmesser
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 28th anniversary in space with this stunning and colorful image of the Lagoon Nebula 4,000 light-years from Earth. While the whole nebula is 55 light-years across, this image only reveals a portion of about four light-years.
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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 28th anniversary in space with this stunning and colorful image of the Lagoon Nebula 4,000 light-years from Earth. While the whole nebula is 55 light-years across, this image only reveals a portion of about four light-years.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA/STScI
This is a more star-filled view of the Lagoon Nebula, using Hubble
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This is a more star-filled view of the Lagoon Nebula, using Hubble's infrared capabilities. The reason you can see more stars is because infrared is able to cut through the dust and gas clouds to reveal the abundance of both young stars within the nebula, as well as more distant stars in the background.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA/STScI
The Rosette Nebula is 5,000 light-years from Earth. The distinctive nebula, which some claim looks more like a skull, has a hole in the middle that creates the illusion of its rose-like shape.
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The Rosette Nebula is 5,000 light-years from Earth. The distinctive nebula, which some claim looks more like a skull, has a hole in the middle that creates the illusion of its rose-like shape.
PHOTO: Nick Wright/Keele University
This inner slope of a Martian crater has several of the seasonal dark streaks called "recurrent slope lineae," or RSL, that a November 2017 report interprets as granular flows, rather than darkening due to flowing water. The image is from the HiRISE camera on NASA
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This inner slope of a Martian crater has several of the seasonal dark streaks called "recurrent slope lineae," or RSL, that a November 2017 report interprets as granular flows, rather than darkening due to flowing water. The image is from the HiRISE camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA/USGS
This artist
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This artist's impression shows a supernova explosion, which contains the luminosity of 100 million suns. Supernova iPTF14hls, which has exploded multiple times, may be the most massive and longest-lasting ever observed.
PHOTO: M. Kornmesser/ESO
This illustration shows hydrocarbon compounds splitting into carbon and hydrogen inside ice giants, such as Neptune, turning into a "diamond (rain) shower."
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This illustration shows hydrocarbon compounds splitting into carbon and hydrogen inside ice giants, such as Neptune, turning into a "diamond (rain) shower."
PHOTO: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
This striking image is the stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula, where stars are born. The red filament is a stretch of ammonia molecules measuring 50 light-years long. The blue represents the gas of the Orion Nebula. This image is a composite of observation from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope and NASA
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This striking image is the stellar nursery in the Orion Nebula, where stars are born. The red filament is a stretch of ammonia molecules measuring 50 light-years long. The blue represents the gas of the Orion Nebula. This image is a composite of observation from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explore telescope. "We still don't understand in detail how large clouds of gas in our Galaxy collapse to form new stars," said Rachel Friesen, one of the collaboration's co-Principal Investigators. "But ammonia is an excellent tracer of dense, star-forming gas."
PHOTO: R. Friesen, Dunlap Institute; J. Pineda, MPIP; GBO/AUI/NSF
This is an illustration of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. The NASA probe will explore the sun
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This is an illustration of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft approaching the sun. The NASA probe will explore the sun's atmosphere in a mission that begins in the summer of 2018.
PHOTO: NASA
See that tiny dot between Saturn
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See that tiny dot between Saturn's rings? That's Earth, as seen by the Cassini mission on April 12, 2017. "Cassini was 870 million miles away from Earth when the image was taken," according to NASA. "Although far too small to be visible in the image, the part of Earth facing Cassini at the time was the southern Atlantic Ocean." Much like the famous "pale blue dot" image captured by Voyager 1 in 1990, we are but a point of light when viewed from the furthest planet in the solar system.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
NASA
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, using infrared technology, reveals the density of stars in the Milky Way. According to NASA, the photo -- stitched together from nine images -- contains more than a half-million stars. The star cluster is the densest in the galaxy.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
This photo of Saturn
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This photo of Saturn's large icy moon, Tethys, was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which sent back some jaw-dropping images from the ringed planet.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
This is what Earth and its moon look like from Mars. The image is a composite of the best Earth image and the best moon image taken on November 20, 2016, by NASA
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This is what Earth and its moon look like from Mars. The image is a composite of the best Earth image and the best moon image taken on November 20, 2016, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter's camera takes images in three wavelength bands: infrared, red and blue-green. Mars was about 127 million miles from Earth when the images were taken.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
PGC 1000714 was initially thought to be a common elliptical galaxy, but a closer analysis revealed the incredibly rare discovery of a Hoag-type galaxy. It has a round core encircled by two detached rings.
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PGC 1000714 was initially thought to be a common elliptical galaxy, but a closer analysis revealed the incredibly rare discovery of a Hoag-type galaxy. It has a round core encircled by two detached rings.
PHOTO: Ryan Beauchemin
NASA
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft took these images of the planet's mysterious hexagon-shaped jetstream in December 2016. The hexagon was discovered in images taken by the Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s. It's estimated to have a diameter wider than two Earths.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
A dead star gives off a greenish glow in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula, located about 6,500 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. NASA released the image for Halloween 2016 and played up the theme in its press release. The agency said the "ghoulish-looking object still has a pulse." At the center of the Crab Nebula is the crushed core, or "heart" of an exploded star. The heart is spinning 30 times per second and producing a magnetic field that generates 1 trillion volts, NASA said.
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A dead star gives off a greenish glow in this Hubble Space Telescope image of the Crab Nebula, located about 6,500 light years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. NASA released the image for Halloween 2016 and played up the theme in its press release. The agency said the "ghoulish-looking object still has a pulse." At the center of the Crab Nebula is the crushed core, or "heart" of an exploded star. The heart is spinning 30 times per second and producing a magnetic field that generates 1 trillion volts, NASA said.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA
Peering through the thick dust clouds of the galactic bulge, an international team of astronomers revealed the unusual mix of stars in the stellar cluster known as Terzan 5. The new results indicate that Terzan 5 is one of the bulge
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Peering through the thick dust clouds of the galactic bulge, an international team of astronomers revealed the unusual mix of stars in the stellar cluster known as Terzan 5. The new results indicate that Terzan 5 is one of the bulge's primordial building blocks, most likely the relic of the very early days of the Milky Way.
PHOTO: European Southern Observatory/F. Ferraro
An artist
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An artist's conception of Planet Nine, which would be the farthest planet within our solar system. The similar cluster orbits of extreme objects on the edge of our solar system suggest a massive planet is located there.
PHOTO: Courtesy Robin Dienel
An illustration of the orbits of the new and previously known extremely distant Solar System objects. The clustering of most of their orbits indicates that they are likely be influenced by something massive and very distant, the proposed Planet X.
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An illustration of the orbits of the new and previously known extremely distant Solar System objects. The clustering of most of their orbits indicates that they are likely be influenced by something massive and very distant, the proposed Planet X.
PHOTO: Courtesy Robin Dienel
Say hello to dark galaxy Dragonfly 44. Like our Milky Way, it has a halo of spherical clusters of stars around its core.
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Say hello to dark galaxy Dragonfly 44. Like our Milky Way, it has a halo of spherical clusters of stars around its core.
PHOTO: Pieter van Dokkum, Roberto Abraham, Gemini Observatory/AURA
A classical nova occurs when a white dwarf star gains matter from its secondary star (a red dwarf) over a period of time, causing a thermonuclear reaction on the surface that eventually erupts in a single visible outburst. This creates a 10,000-fold increase in brightness, depicted here in an artist
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A classical nova occurs when a white dwarf star gains matter from its secondary star (a red dwarf) over a period of time, causing a thermonuclear reaction on the surface that eventually erupts in a single visible outburst. This creates a 10,000-fold increase in brightness, depicted here in an artist's rendering.
PHOTO: K. Ulaczyk/Warsaw University Observatory
Gravitational lensing and space warping are visible in this image of near and distant galaxies captured by Hubble.
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Gravitational lensing and space warping are visible in this image of near and distant galaxies captured by Hubble.
PHOTO: NASA
At the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, researchers discovered an X-shaped structure within a tightly packed group of stars.
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At the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, researchers discovered an X-shaped structure within a tightly packed group of stars.
PHOTO: From NASA/JPL-Caltech/D.Lang
Meet UGC 1382: What astronomers thought was a normal elliptical galaxy (left) was actually revealed to be a massive disc galaxy made up of different parts when viewed with ultraviolet and deep optical data (center and right). In a complete reversal of normal galaxy structure, the center is younger than its outer spiral disk.
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Meet UGC 1382: What astronomers thought was a normal elliptical galaxy (left) was actually revealed to be a massive disc galaxy made up of different parts when viewed with ultraviolet and deep optical data (center and right). In a complete reversal of normal galaxy structure, the center is younger than its outer spiral disk.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL/Caltech/SDSS/NRAO
NASA
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of the Crab Nebula and its "beating heart," which is a neutron star at the right of the two bright stars in the center of this image. The neutron star pulses 30 times a second. The rainbow colors are visible due to the movement of materials in the nebula occurring during the time-lapse of the image.
PHOTO: ESA/NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a hidden galaxy that is fainter than Andromeda or the Milky Way. This low surface brightness galaxy, called UGC 477, is over 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces.
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The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of a hidden galaxy that is fainter than Andromeda or the Milky Way. This low surface brightness galaxy, called UGC 477, is over 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble & NASA
On April 19, NASA released new images of bright craters on Ceres. This photo shows the Haulani Crater, which has evidence of landslides from its rim. Scientists believe some craters on the dwarf planet are bright because they are relatively new.
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On April 19, NASA released new images of bright craters on Ceres. This photo shows the Haulani Crater, which has evidence of landslides from its rim. Scientists believe some craters on the dwarf planet are bright because they are relatively new.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA
This illustration shows the millions of dust grains NASA
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This illustration shows the millions of dust grains NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sampled near Saturn. A few dozen of them appear to have come from beyond our solar system.
PHOTO: JPL-Caltech/NASA
This image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO
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This image from the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile shows a stunning concentration of galaxies known as the Fornax Cluster, which can be found in the Southern Hemisphere. At the center of this cluster, in the middle of the three bright blobs on the left side of the image, lies a cD galaxy -- a galactic cannibal that has grown in size by consuming smaller galaxies.
PHOTO: ESO
This image shows the central region of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The young and dense star cluster R136, which contains hundreds of massive stars, is visible in the lower right of the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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This image shows the central region of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The young and dense star cluster R136, which contains hundreds of massive stars, is visible in the lower right of the image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
PHOTO: ESA/Hubble/NASA
In March 2016, astronomers published a paper on powerful red flashes coming from binary system V404 Cygni in 2015. This illustration shows a black hole, similar to the one in V404 Cygni, devouring material from an orbiting star.
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In March 2016, astronomers published a paper on powerful red flashes coming from binary system V404 Cygni in 2015. This illustration shows a black hole, similar to the one in V404 Cygni, devouring material from an orbiting star.
PHOTO: ESO/L. Calçada
A new map of the Milky Way was released February 24, 2016, giving astronomers a full census of the star-forming regions within our own galaxy. The APEX telescope in Chile captured this survey.
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A new map of the Milky Way was released February 24, 2016, giving astronomers a full census of the star-forming regions within our own galaxy. The APEX telescope in Chile captured this survey.
PHOTO: ESO/APEX/ATLASGAL
This image shows the elliptical galaxy NGC 4889, deeply embedded within the Coma galaxy cluster. There is a gigantic supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
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This image shows the elliptical galaxy NGC 4889, deeply embedded within the Coma galaxy cluster. There is a gigantic supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA
An artist
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An artist's impression of 2MASS J2126, which takens 900,000 years to orbit its star, 1 trillion kilometers away.
PHOTO: University of Hertfordshire / Neil Cook
Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune.
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Caltech researchers have found evidence of a giant planet tracing a bizarre, highly elongated orbit in the outer solar system. The object, nicknamed Planet Nine, has a mass about 10 times that of Earth and orbits about 20 times farther from the sun on average than does Neptune.
PHOTO: CNN, Nasa, Caltech
An international team of astronomers may have discovered the biggest and brightest supernova ever. The explosion was 570 billion times brighter than the sun and 20 times brighter than all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy combined, according to a statement from The Ohio State University, which is leading the study. Scientists are straining to define the supernova
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An international team of astronomers may have discovered the biggest and brightest supernova ever. The explosion was 570 billion times brighter than the sun and 20 times brighter than all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy combined, according to a statement from The Ohio State University, which is leading the study. Scientists are straining to define the supernova's strength. This image shows an artist's impression of the supernova as it would appear from an exoplanet located about 10,000 light years away.
PHOTO: Jin Ma/Beijing Planetarium/The Kavli Foundation/AP
Astronomers noticed huge waves of gas being "burped" by the black hole at the center of NGC 5195, a small galaxy 26 million light years from Earth. The team believes the outburst is a consequence of the interaction of NGC 5195 with a nearby galaxy.
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Astronomers noticed huge waves of gas being "burped" by the black hole at the center of NGC 5195, a small galaxy 26 million light years from Earth. The team believes the outburst is a consequence of the interaction of NGC 5195 with a nearby galaxy.
PHOTO: NASA
An artist
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An artist's illustration shows a binary black hole found in the quasar at the center of the Markarian 231 galaxy. Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope discovered the galaxy being powered by two black holes "furiously whirling about each other," the space agency said in a news release.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/G. Bacon (STScl)
An artist
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An artist's impression of what a black hole might look like. In February, researchers in China said they had spotted a super-massive black hole 12 billion times the size of the sun.
PHOTO: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Are there are oceans on any of Jupiter
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Are there are oceans on any of Jupiter's moons? The Juice probe shown in this artist's impression aims to find out. Picture courtesy of ESA/AOES
PHOTO: ESA/AOES
Astronomers have discovered powerful auroras on a brown dwarf that is 20 light-years away. This is an artist
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Astronomers have discovered powerful auroras on a brown dwarf that is 20 light-years away. This is an artist's concept of the phenomenon.
PHOTO: Chuck Carter and Gregg Hallinan/Caltech
Venus, bottom, and Jupiter shine brightly above Matthews, North Carolina, on Monday, June 29. The apparent close encounter, called a conjunction, has been giving a dazzling display in the summer sky. Although the two planets appear to be close together, in reality they are millions of miles apart.
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Venus, bottom, and Jupiter shine brightly above Matthews, North Carolina, on Monday, June 29. The apparent close encounter, called a conjunction, has been giving a dazzling display in the summer sky. Although the two planets appear to be close together, in reality they are millions of miles apart.
PHOTO: Chuck Burton/AP
Jupiter
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Jupiter's icy moon Europa may be the best place in the solar system to look for extraterrestrial life, according to NASA. The moon is about the size of Earth's moon, and there is evidence it has an ocean beneath its frozen crust that may hold twice as much water as Earth. NASA's 2016 budget includes a request for $30 million to plan a mission to investigate Europa. The image above was taken by the Galileo spacecraft on November 25, 1999. It's a 12-frame mosaic and is considered the the best image yet of the side of Europa that faces Jupiter.
PHOTO: University of Arizona/JPL/NASA
This nebula, or cloud of gas and dust, is called RCW 34 or Gum 19. The brightest areas you can see are where the gas is being heated by young stars. Eventually the gas burst outward like champagne after a bottle is uncorked. Scientists call this champagne flow. This new image of the nebula was captured by the European Space Organization
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This nebula, or cloud of gas and dust, is called RCW 34 or Gum 19. The brightest areas you can see are where the gas is being heated by young stars. Eventually the gas burst outward like champagne after a bottle is uncorked. Scientists call this champagne flow. This new image of the nebula was captured by the European Space Organization's Very Large Telescope in Chile. RCW 34 is in the constellation Vela in the southern sky. The name means "sails of a ship" in Latin.
PHOTO: ESO
The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter
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The Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Jupiter's three great moons -- Io, Callisto, and Europa -- passing by at once.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA
A massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 looks like a smiley face in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That
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A massive galaxy cluster known as SDSS J1038+4849 looks like a smiley face in an image captured by the Hubble Telescope. The two glowing eyes are actually two distant galaxies. And what of the smile and the round face? That's a result of what astronomers call "strong gravitational lensing." That happens because the gravitational pull between the two galaxy clusters is so strong it distorts time and space around them.
PHOTO: NASA & ESA
Using powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn
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Using powerful optics, astronomers have found a planet-like body, J1407b, with rings 200 times the size of Saturn's. This is an artist's depiction of the rings of planet J1407b, which are eclipsing a star.
PHOTO: University of Rochester/Ron Miller
A patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent).
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A patch of stars appears to be missing in this image from the La Silla Observatory in Chile. But the stars are actually still there behind a cloud of gas and dust called Lynds Dark Nebula 483. The cloud is about 700 light years from Earth in the constellation Serpens (The Serpent).
PHOTO: european southern observatory
This is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It
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This is the largest Hubble Space Telescope image ever assembled. It's a portion of the galaxy next door, Andromeda (M31).
PHOTO: ESA/Nasa
NASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency
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NASA has captured a stunning new image of the so-called "Pillars of Creation," one of the space agency's most iconic discoveries. The giant columns of cold gas, in a small region of the Eagle Nebula, were popularized by a similar image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995.
PHOTO: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
Astronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
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Astronomers using the Hubble Space pieced together this picture that shows a small section of space in the southern-hemisphere constellation Fornax. Within this deep-space image are 10,000 galaxies, going back in time as far as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
PHOTO: NASA
Planetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory
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Planetary nebula Abell 33 appears ring-like in this image, taken using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The blue bubble was created when an aging star shed its outer layers and a star in the foreground happened to align with it to create a "diamond engagement ring" effect.
PHOTO: courtesy European Southern Observatory
This long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang.
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This long-exposure image from the Hubble Telescope is the deepest-ever picture taken of a cluster of galaxies. The cluster, called Abell 2744, contains several hundred galaxies as they looked 3.5 billion years ago; the more distant galaxies appear as they did more than 12 billion years ago, not long after the Big Bang.
PHOTO: ESA/NASA
This Hubble image looks a floating marble or a maybe a giant, disembodied eye. But it
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This Hubble image looks a floating marble or a maybe a giant, disembodied eye. But it's actually a nebula with a giant star at its center. Scientists think the star used to be 20 times more massive than our sun, but it's dying and is destined to go supernova.
PHOTO: ESA/NASA
Composite image of B14-65666 showing the distributions of dust (red), oxygen (green), and carbon (blue), observed by ALMA and stars (white) observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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Composite image of B14-65666 showing the distributions of dust (red), oxygen (green), and carbon (blue), observed by ALMA and stars (white) observed by the Hubble Space Telescope.
PHOTO: ALMA/NASA/ESA/Hashimoto
Artist
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Artist's impression of the merging galaxies B14-65666 located 13 billion light years-away.
PHOTO: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

Juno has a color camera and a three Lego crew members (yes, Legos).

The camera is called JunoCam and NASA says it will take “spectacular close-up, color images” of Jupiter. NASA is asking the public to help decide where to point the camera.

Now, about those Lego crew members. Three 1.5-inch figurines are on board Juno. One is a likeness of Galileo Galilei – the scientist who discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons. The other two represent the Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno. They were included to inspire children to study science and math.

Juno’s spacecraft body measures 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) tall and 11.5 feet in diameter. But with its three solar panels open, it spans about 66 feet (20 meters). For comparison, an NBA basketball court is 50 feet wide and 94 feet long.

Jupiter was 445 million miles (716 million kilometers) from Earth when Juno was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 5, 2011. But the probe has traveled a total distance of 1,740 million miles (2,800 million kilometers) to reach the gaseous planet, making a flyby of Earth to help pick up speed.

You can see Jupiter from Earth without any special binoculars or telescopes. It’s the bright star in the evening sky from January through August. If you do have a telescope, you can see its largest moons.

The Juno mission ends on February 20, 2018, when Juno is expected to crash into Jupiter.