On 19–20 August 2024, Juice successfully completed a world-first lunar-Earth flyby, with flight controllers guiding the spacecraft first past the Moon, then past Earth. The gravity of the two changed Juice’s speed and direction, sending it on a shortcut to Jupiter via Venus.
The closest approach to the Moon was at 23:15 CEST on 19 August, deflecting Juice towards a closest approach to Earth just over 24 hours later at 23:56 CEST on 20 August. In the hours before and after both close approaches, Juice’s two monitoring cameras captured photos, giving us a unique ‘Juice eye view’ of our home planet.
Juice’s two monitoring cameras provide 1024 x 1024 pixel snapshots that can be processed in colour. Their main purpose is to monitor the spacecraft’s various booms and antennas, especially during the challenging period after launch. The photos they captured of the Moon and Earth during the lunar-Earth flyby are a bonus.
The piece of music that accompanies the images is called 11,2 km/s. It was composed by Gautier Acher back in 2015, and selected as the official theme music for ESA’s Estrack ground station network to mark its 40th anniversary (more information). The music is available under a CC BY-NC-SA licence.
Juice rerouted to Venus in world’s first lunar-Earth flyby: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Juice_rerouted_to_Venus_in_world_s_first_lunar-Earth_flyby
Juice’s lunar-Earth flyby: all you need to know: https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Juice/Juice_s_lunar-Earth_flyby_all_you_need_to_know
Processing notes: The Juice monitoring cameras provide 1024 x 1024 pixel images. Upscaling software was used to convert the images into 2160 x 2160 pixel images, which match the 3480 x2160 pixel resolution of the 4K movie format.
Credits: ESA – European Space Agency
Acknowledgements: Simeon Schmauß & Mark McCaughrean
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