NASA · orbiter active
Juno
NASA's solar-powered Juno has orbited Jupiter since 2016, probing its interior, magnetic field and polar storms.
- Launch
- 5 August 2011
- Distance from Earth today
- 816.4 million km5.457 AU · light: 45 min 23 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 793.7 million km5.305 AU
Live distance from Earth and chart →
Trajectory
Trajectory: JPL Horizons vectors (spacecraft -61) every 5 days, projected onto the ecliptic; compressed distance scale.
Mission timeline
- Launch on an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral
- Earth flyby for a gravity boost
- Jupiter orbit insertion
- Close flyby of Ganymede
- Close flyby of Europa
- First of two close Io flybys
- Second close Io flyby; the orbit shortens to 33 days
- Second extended mission begins, planned to run three years (to September 2028)
About the mission
Juno travels on a long, looping polar orbit that dips just above Jupiter's cloud tops on each close pass, avoiding the worst of the radiation belts. Its measurements of gravity and microwaves showed that Jupiter's core is diffuse rather than compact and that its famous belts reach far below the visible clouds, while its camera revealed clusters of cyclones around both poles. In an extended mission it flew close to Ganymede, Europa and Io. The first extension ran to September 2025; since October 2025 Juno has continued in a second extended mission planned for three years, and in 2026 it is still orbiting Jupiter and sending back data.
Sources
- science.nasa.gov/mission/juno/
- nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=2011-040A
- ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND=%27-61%27&OBJ_DATA=%27YES%27&MAKE_EPHEM=%27NO%27
- meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2025/EPSC-DPS2025-158.html
- science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/02/04/nasas-juno-mission-redefines-size-shape-of-jupiter/
- Trajectory: JPL Horizons (public domain)