Welcome to Jupiter! Juno enters orbit to bring stargazers unseen images

[MUSIC] So it might be fourth of July but there is no rest of the wicked scientists and engineers who have been very busy successfully getting their Juno spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter. Launched in 2011 and spending almost five years in transit, the plucky spacecraft has covered 1.7 billion miles or 2.7 billion kilometers and is now in orbit around the biggest planet in our solar neighborhood. After a 35-minute burn of its main engine, the space craft lowered itself at a rate of 1, 212 miles per hour, getting caught by Jupiter's gravity at orbiting speed. For backyard astronomers it will also provide an amazing opportunity to have a closer look at Jupiter's clouds without the clouds on our planet getting in the way. It's not all travel snaps and postcards though, over the next 20 months Juno will make 37 orbits around Jupiter measuring the temperature, water content, and composition of the planet. Atmosphere. The spacecrafts will also study Jupiter's magnetic and gravitational field revealing the internal structure of our gassiest neighbour. NASA not only hopes to get a better understanding of Jupiter's origin and formation, but also wants to understand how solar systems like our own develop and take shape.