Jupiter
The European Space Agency (ESA) is sending JUICE to Jupiter in 2022. Rather than some kind of interplanetary beverage delivery, JUICE stands for JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) and is the first Large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 program. The spacecraft will carry out the most thorough exploration of Jupiter and its moons since NASA's Galileo mission that ran from 1989 to 2003. The ESA has now announced the eleven scientific instruments selected to for the unmanned probe to carry to the gas giant. Read More
Jupiter and the Moon do a close, slow dance for stargazers
Owners of small telescopes, rejoice! For that matter, on the night of January 21 everyone else can also enjoy the sight of Jupiter and the Moon at nearly the same position on the celestial sphere. Here's our advice on how best to observe this – the closest approach of the Moon and Jupiter until 2026. Read More
Impact: Amateurs observe Jupiter taking another for the team
Jupiter is a major player in protecting the Earth from impact events, and has been for billions of years. Between comets and asteroids impacting on Jupiter and being flung into the Sun or out of the Solar System entirely, Jupiter's enormous gravitational field has removed the greater proportion of debris left-over from the formation of the Solar System. Jupiter has again been caught in the act of attracting and eating dangerous space rocks—this time in simultaneous observations by two amateur astronomers. Read More
