by foo77
Keeping in touch with Juno since its take off in early August – the Jupiter-bound probe was, as of the 24 August approximately 6.2 million miles from Earth, travelling at a velocity of 77,600 miles per hour relative to the sun. NASA reports the unmanned probe is in excellent health and is operating nominally.
The image below was taken from the spacecraft’s on board camera called JunoCam as part of the mission teams check out. The team is currently conducting its initial detailed checks on the spacecraft’s instruments and subsystems following its launch on 5 August.
Makes us look rather small and insignificant!
Earth (left) and the Moon (right) from 9.5 million kilometres - Credit: NASA (click to enlarge)
This is not the final farewell however as Juno is due to fly by Earth in 2013 for a gravitational slingshot which will give it enough speed to get on its way to Jupiter for 2016.
You can keep up with Juno’s current position and velocity on NASA’s simulated Solar System.
