Dr. Leigh Fletcher discusses how Juno could revolutionise our understanding of the origins of Jupiter via gravitational mapping of its internal structure. The presence of Jupiter has had a profound influence on the architecture of our solar system, shaping the conditions that have led to the stable, habitable environment that exist here on Earth. […]
Water, water, everywhere. Dr. Leigh Fletcher appeared on this month’s episode of BBC Sky at Night to discuss Juno’s goals at Jupiter, and describes the importance of Jupiter’s water in this new post. If our ideas about the formation of giant planets stand up to the observational tests of the Juno […]
As part of the ground based support for the Juno mission, I visited the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, in February through to the beginning of March this year. I was observing Jupiter’s Northern lights while Juno was speeding its way towards Jupiter. During this time, Juno’s instruments had been switch on and it was busy […]
Unfortunately, they don’t let you take observing trips to the Hubble Space Telescope; perhaps the only downside to using the veteran observatory. It is a strange feeling, knowing that this world-renowned and famously oversubscribed facility, perhaps best known for its remarkable images of nebulae and galaxies, is, for a fleeting moment in history, doing […]
This article was released by the European Southern Observatory, Royal Astronomical Society and University of Leicester press office on Monday June 27th to coincide with the UK National Astronomy Meeting. Stunning new images and the highest-resolution maps to date of Jupiter at thermal infrared wavelengths give a glowing view of Juno’s target, a week ahead […]
In late April 2016, I had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Hawaii, observing on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, using a spectrograph called TEXES. This is an instrument that can measure the composition and structure of Jupiter’s clouds, and was built at the University of Texas, Austin. These observations provide a picture […]
During Juno’s time at Jupiter, we will have the fantastic opportunity to study the most powerful aurora in the solar system. An aurora is light emitted by atoms and molecules that have been excited through collisions with very energetic particles that enter a planet’s atmosphere along the planet’s magnetic field lines. The generation of Jupiter’s […]
The University of Leicester has a long history of involvement in cutting edge space and planetary research spanning more than five decades – a Leicester-built instrument has been operating in space every single year since 1967, and Leicester scientists and engineers have played vital roles in missions with many different space agencies, including NASA, […]
Future blog entries will look at specific examples of the science being done at the University of Leicester that is related to Juno’s exploration of Jupiter. But to set this work in context, today we’ll briefly summarise the overarching goals of the Juno mission, the experiments on board, and what we hope to learn from […]
As the Independence Day fireworks erupt over the Rosebowl Stadium near Los Angeles, just across the highway from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, fireworks of a very different kind should be going off at Jupiter. For 35 minutes, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will fire its main engine to apply the brakes and ease into orbit around […]
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