New Horizons at Jupiter
Explanation:
Headed for the first close-up exploration of the
Pluto-Charon
system and the icy denizens of
the
Kuiper belt, NASA's
New Horizons
spacecraft is pictured here in an artist's vision of the
robot probe outward bound.
The dramatic scene
depicts the 465 kilogram spacecraft about
one year after
a planned 2006 launch, following a flyby of
gas giant Jupiter.
While
the Jupiter flyby
will be used as a
gravity
assist maneuver to
save fuel and cut travel time to the outer reaches of
the Solar System,
it will also provide an opportunity to test
instruments and study the giant planet, its moons, and magnetic
fields.
The Sun is seen from eight hundred million kilometers away,
with inner planets Earth, Venus, and Mercury
aligned on the left.
A dim crescent of outermost Galilean moon
Callisto, orbiting Jupiter
just inside of the spacecraft's trajectory, appears to the
upper right of the fading Sun.
Left of Jupiter itself is
Europa and
in the distant background are the faint, unresolved stars and
dust clouds of the
Milky Way.
New Horizons' planned arrival at
Pluto-Charon is in
the summer of 2015.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
