NASA's Juno Spacecraft Images Big Dipper

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http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-133

NASA's Juno Spacecraft Images Big Dipper
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
May 10, 2012

In England it is known as the "Plough," in Germany the "Great Cart," and
in Malaysia the "Seven Ploughs." Since humanity first turned its eyes
skyward, the seven northern hemisphere stars that compose the "Big
Dipper" have been a welcome and familiar introduction to the heavens.

"I can recall as a kid making an imaginary line from the two stars that
make up the right side of the Big Dipper's bowl and extending it upward
to find the North Star," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of
NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter from the Southwest Research Institute in
San Antonio. "Now, the Big Dipper is helping me make sure the camera
aboard Juno is ready to do its job."

Launched on Aug. 5, 2011, the solar-powered Juno spacecraft is 279 days
and 380 million miles (612 million kilometers) into its five-year,
1,905-million-mile (3,065-million-kilometer) journey to Jupiter. Once
there, the spacecraft will orbit the planet's poles 33 times and use its
nine instruments to image and probe beneath the gas giant's obscuring
cloud cover to learn more about Jupiter's origins, structure, atmosphere
and magnetosphere, and look for a potential solid planetary core.

One of those instruments, JunoCam, is tasked with taking closeups of the
gas giant's atmosphere. But, with four-and-a-half years to go before
photons of light from Jupiter first fill its CCD (charge-coupled
device), and a desire to certify the camera in flight, Juno's mission
planners took a page from their childhood and on March 21, aimed their
camera at a familiar celestial landmark.

"I don't know if it's the first space-based image of the Big Dipper but,
as it was taken when we were well beyond Mars orbit, it's probably from
the farthest out," said Bolton. "But much more important than that is
the simple fact that JunoCam, like the rest of this mission, works as
advertised and is ready for its day in the sun - around Jupiter."

The JunoCam test image of the Big Dipper is online at:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15653 .

Juno's name comes from Greek and Roman mythology. The god Jupiter drew a
veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief, and his wife, the
goddess Juno, was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's
true nature.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno
mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest
Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New
Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. JunoCam was developed and is operated by Malin Space
Science Systems in San Diego. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver,
built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.

More information about Juno is online at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and
http://missionjuno.swri.edu/ .

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
ag...@jpl.nasa.gov

2012-133