A 1.8 billion mile journey. That's, like, far 'n stuff. There's a video at the link.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2016 ... /86697540/

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Juno spacecraft safely entered Jupiter’s orbit early Tuesday after completing a five-year journey across 1.8 billion miles of deep space.

The spacecraft began firing its main engines at 8:18 pm local time Monday to slow itself down so it could be captured by Jupiter’s gravity.

Thirty-five minutes later, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. — Mission Control — received confirmation: Juno's attempt to throw itself into orbit had been successful.

"All stations on Juno co-ord, we have the tone for burn cut-off on Delta B," Juno Mission Control announced, followed by: "Roger Juno, welcome to Jupiter."

The $1.1 billion Juno will now use its sensors to explore Jupiter for clues about how our solar system formed billions of years ago.

“If we want to understand how planets form and how solar systems form, we really have to start with Jupiter,” said Steve Levin, a Juno project scientist.

Juno will take a series of dives beneath Jupiter’s intense radiation belts where it will study the gas giant from as close as 2,600 miles over the planet's cloud tops.

Scientists warned that the project was risky and might not succeed. Juno will be the first spacecraft to study Jupiter from such a close distance.

“We have a huge, incredible science payload of remote sensors that are going to tell us what’s inside the planet from outside and you can't do that from a long way away,” said Rick Nybakken, Juno’s project manager.

"NASA did it again," said Scott Bolton, one of the scientists in charge of the project.

NASA released a time-lapse video taken by Juno as it approached Jupiter over the past few weeks, but close-up images will not be released before August 27.

Getting so much closer allows the probe to peer beneath Jupiter's thick clouds with sensors designed to measure its gravity, magnetic fields and water content.

This should give scientists an indication as to whether the planet harbors a solid core, something planetary scientists have theorized to exist but have never confirmed. It will also tell scientists if Jupiter formed far away from the sun in colder temperatures or if it formed closer to the sun in a relatively warmer environment.

Yeah it's pretty incredible. No idea how they figure any of this stuff out.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

IIRc they launched it at the sun so that about 2 years later it would be in position to at that point use the Sun's & the Earth's gravity to finally then slingshot it on it's way out to Jupiter, reaching speeds of something like 130,000 mph. It almost sounds too fantastical to believe for a moment or two. I hope they figure out what that black monolith is on Europa.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

You gullible Americans. This shit is coming from the Star Trek set.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

#Americawasnevergreat /s/

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Darkside vibe.

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Elections have consequences.