What’s So Special About Jupiter That Scientists Want to Know With The Help of Juno?

Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Indian kids from the 90's remember it as the planet from where popular comic character 'Sabu' came from. But scientists at NASA have other queries that they want to be addressed for humans to have a better understanding of the biggest planet in our solar system.

Recently, NASA's Juno successfully landed in the orbit of Jupiter. Juno started its voyage from planet earth in 2011. The spacecraft will now orbit Jupiter 32 times and is in an orbit that's just 4,989 km above the planet's cloud tops.

There are also three passengers on the spacecraft. Well, technically, they are special Lego figures made of aluminium. The Lego passengers on-board are named after the Roman god Jupiter, his wife Juno and the 17th century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei.

Juno has broken the record of deep space exploration by a solar-powered probe. Juno set the record in January 2016, when it was approximately 793 million kilometers away from the sun.

Juno's Primary Mission

Juno will try to understand how Jupiter was formed and how it has changed over the years. This will give scientists a better idea of how giant gas planets are formed. Jupiter is also important because it's mostly made from two gases, hydrogen and helium, which are also present in our Sun. This will also help scientists in understanding how planets are formed.

Jupiter's Atmosphere Mystery

Jupiter is known as a gas planet because of the thick layer of gas and cloud that's present in its atmosphere. With the help of Juno, scientists want to observe these clouds and monitor their temperature and movements. The main thing that they are looking for is how much water and ammonia is in Jupiter's atmosphere.

The Mystery of Jupiter's Core

Being a gas planet there has been a mystery among the science fraternity that whether the planet actually has a solid core at its center. Being covered with a thick layer of cloud and gas it's been difficult to conclude whether a core actually exists. Juno will research for gravitational and magnetic fields of the planet and determine once and for all whether the planet has a core or not.

After finding these main answers and many more Juno will eventually die a dramatic death. In February 2018, Juno will perform a 5-day maneuver that will help it to crash into Jupiter's atmosphere intentionally.