24 Hours from Jupiter
Credit & Copyright: NASA,
R. Beebe, NMSU
Explanation:
NASA's robot spacecraft
Galileo began its long voyage to
Jupiter more than six years
and 2.3 billion miles ago.
About 24 hours from now it will reach its destination.
On arrival
(December 7th, 1995),
Galileo should become the first spacecraft to orbit around
a
gas giant planet and the first to drop a
probe into a giant planet's dense atmosphere. In the above
Hubble Space
Telescope image, the predicted probe entry location is
indicated by the arrow.
If all goes well, the
atmospheric
probe will relay information about temperature,
pressure, and composition for about an hour as it descends
through Jupiter's clouds,
while the orbiter will spend at least two years exploring
the Jovian system.
Along with advancing our knowledge of Jupiter and its environs, Galileo data
is expected to reveal some of the secrets of the formation
and evolution of the
Solar System.
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.
