{{Short description|Public engagement camera aboard a Jupiter orbiter}} <!--thumb|300px|JunoCam image of Jupiter released by NASA on December 14, 2016<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21219 | title=Catalog Page for PIA21219}}</ref>--> '''JunoCam''' (or '''JCM''') is the visible-light camera/telescope onboard NASA's ''Juno'' spacecraft that entered orbit around Jupiter in 2016. The camera is operated by the JunoCam Digital Electronics Assembly (JDEA). Both the camera and JDEA were built by Malin Space Science Systems. JunoCam takes a swath of imaging as the spacecraft rotates; the camera is fixed to the spacecraft, so as it rotates, it gets one sweep of observation.<ref name="mass">{{Cite web|url=http://www.msss.com/all_projects/junocam.php|title=Malin Space Science Systems - Junocam, Juno Jupiter Orbiter|access-date=2016-07-17}}</ref> It has a field of view of 58 degrees with four filters (3 for visible light).<ref>{{cite book|author=Patrick Irwin|title=Giant Planets of Our Solar System: Atmospheres, Composition, and Structure|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HIrh-9o2CkC&pg=PA352|year=2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3-540-85158-5|page=352}}</ref>
==Planned goals and outcome== 200px|thumb|left|JunoCam views of Jupiter, August 2016 Originally, due to telecommunications constraints, ''Juno'' was expected to only be able to return about 40 megabytes of camera data during each 11-day orbital period (the orbital period was later modified). The downlink average data rate of around 325 bits per second will limit the number of images that are captured and transmitted during each orbit to somewhere between 10 and 100 depending on the compression level used.<ref name="planetary">[http://planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2011/3133.html ''Junocam will get us great global shots down onto Jupiter's poles'' (The Planetary Society)]</ref> This is comparable to the previous ''Galileo'' mission that orbited Jupiter, which captured thousands of images<ref name="galileoimages">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041102100816/http://www.solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/gallery/index.cfm Galileo Legacy Site Image Gallery (NASA)]</ref> despite its slow data rate of 1000 bits per second (at maximum compression levels) due to antenna problems that prevented operation with its planned 135,000 bit-per-second communications link.
200px|thumb|right|Io and Europa with Jupiter The primary observation target is Jupiter itself, although limited images of some of Jupiter's moons have been taken and more are intended.<ref name="adsabs.harvard.edu"/> JunoCam successfully returned detailed images of Ganymede after ''Juno's'' flyby on June 7, 2021,<ref name="nasa.20210608">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/see-the-first-images-nasa-s-juno-took-as-it-sailed-by-ganymede|title=See the First Images NASA's Juno Took as It Sailed by Ganymede | NASA|date=8 June 2021|access-date=13 June 2021|archive-date=9 June 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210609043323/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/see-the-first-images-nasa-s-juno-took-as-it-sailed-by-ganymede|url-status=dead}}</ref> with further flybys of Europa on September 29, 2022, and two of Io on December 30, 2023 and February 3, 2024. These flybys also reduced Juno's orbital period to 33 days.<ref name="nasa-20210113">{{cite web |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-mission-expands-into-the-future |title=NASA's Juno Mission Expands Into the Future |publisher=NASA |date=13 January 2021 |access-date=17 March 2021}}</ref>
The JunoCam project was coordinated by Glenn Orton<ref>{{Cite web |last=Howell |first=Elizabeth |title=The Juno Team Wants Your Pictures of Jupiter |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/juno-team-wants-your-pictures-jupiter-180959639/ |access-date=2025-10-18 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> and is led by Candice Hansen-Koharcheck.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gill |first1=Victoria |title=Nasa's Jupiter mission Juno reveals giant polar storms |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46547904 |website=BBC |access-date=10 February 2025 |date=13 December 2018}}</ref> JunoCam is not one of the probe's core scientific instruments; it was put on board primarily for public science and outreach, to increase public engagement, with all images available on NASA's website.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wall |first1=Mike |title=Juno Spacecraft Captures 1st Photo from Jupiter Orbit |url=https://www.space.com/33406-juno-jupiter-orbit-first-photo.html |website=space.com |accessdate=16 December 2018 |date=12 July 2016}}</ref> It is capable of being used for science, and does have some coordinated activities in regards to this, as well as to engage amateur and as well as professional infrared astronomers.<ref name="adsabs.harvard.edu">{{Cite journal|last1=Hansen|first1=C. J.|last2=Orton|first2=G. S.|date=2015-12-01|title=JunoCam: Science and Outreach Opportunities with Juno|bibcode=2015AGUFM.P41B2066H|journal=AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts|volume=41|pages=P41B–2066}}</ref>
== Design == thumb|left|JunoCam hardware The JunoCam physical and electronic interfaces are largely based on the MARDI instrument for the Mars Science Laboratory. However, the housing and some aspects of the camera's inner mechanism have been modified to provide stable operation in Jupiter's intense radiation environment and magnetic fields.
Part of its mission will be to provide close up views of Jupiter's polar region and lower-latitude cloud belts, and at ''Juno''{{'}}s intended orbit the camera is able to take images at up to {{convert|15|km}} per pixel resolution. However, within one hour of closest approach to Jupiter it can take up to {{convert|3|km}} pixel, thus exceeding the resolution of ''Cassini'' up to that time on Saturn.<ref name=mass/>
In addition to visible light filters, it also has a near infrared filter to help detect clouds; a methane filter in addition the visible color filters. The camera is a "push-broom" type imager, generating an image as the spacecraft turns moving the sensor in sweeping motion over the observation area.<ref name="outreach" />
One of the constraints for JunoCam hardware was mass, which limited the size of the optics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/42798-junocam-blends-art-and-jupiter-science.html|title=JunoCam Images Are Where Science Meets Art and NASA Meets the Public |first1=Meghan |last1=Bartels |website=Space.com|date=27 December 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref>
==Specifications and mission== thumb|300px|Published by NASA in March 2019, the "Jupiter Marble" image by Juno's JunoCam imager The camera and the mission were not designed to study the moons of Jupiter.<ref name=spaced/> JunoCam has a field of view that is too wide to resolve any detail in the Jovian moons except during close flybys. Jupiter itself may only appear to be 75 pixels across from JunoCam when Juno reaches the furthest point of its orbit around the planet.<ref name=planetary/> At its closest approaches, JunoCam could achieve 15 km/pixel resolution from 4300 km, while Hubble has taken images of up to 119 km/pixel from 600 million km.<ref>[http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0910q/ ''Collision leaves giant Jupiter bruised''] - NASA, ESA, Michael Wong (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD), H. B. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO) and the Jupiter Impact Team (accessed September 25, 2010)</ref>
The camera uses a Kodak image sensor, the KODAK KAI-2020, capable of color imaging at 1600 x 1200 pixels: less than 2 megapixels.<ref>[http://www.photoxels.com/junocam-uses-kodak-image-sensor-to-capture-jupiter/ Photexels - JunoCam Uses Kodak Image Sensor To Capture Jupiter (August 5, 2011)]</ref> It has a field of view of 58 degrees with four filters (red, green, blue, and a methane band) to provide color imaging.<ref name=outreach>[https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/pub/e/downloads/JunoCam_Junos_Outreach_Camera.pdf JunoCam: Juno's Outreach Camera (PDF)]</ref> The low resolution, rigid mounting, and lossy compression applied before transmission makes it effectively the ''Juno'' "dashcam".
''Juno''{{'}}s orbit is highly elongated and takes it close to the poles (within {{convert|4300|km}}), but then far beyond Callisto's orbit, the most distant Galilean moon.<ref name=spaced/> This orbital design helps the spacecraft (and its complement of scientific instruments) avoid Jupiter's radiation belts, which have a record of damaging spacecraft electronics and solar panels. The Juno Radiation Vault with its titanium walls also aids in protecting and shielding Juno's electronics.<ref>[http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/multimedia/pia13260.html Setting up Juno's Radiation Vault (NASA)]</ref> Despite the intense magnetosphere of Jupiter, JunoCam was expected to be operational for at least the first eight orbits (September 2017),<ref>{{Cite web|title = Understanding Juno's Orbit: An Interview with NASA's Scott Bolton| url = http://www.universetoday.com/123711/understanding-junos-orbit-interview-nasas-scott-bolton/ |website = Universe Today| accessdate = 6 February 2016| date = 2016-01-08 }}</ref> but as of December 2023 (57 orbits) remains active and has also been re-purposed from an outreach-only camera to a scientific instrument to study the dynamics of Jupiter's clouds, polar storms, and moons.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ganymede in True (RGB) and False (GRB) Colour |url=https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing?id=10823 |website=JunoCam Image Processing |publisher=NASA, SwRI, MSSS |date=June 12, 2021 |accessdate=June 13, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7303 | title=NASA's Juno Mission Halfway to Jupiter Science| website=Jet Propulsion Laboratory}}</ref> The camera sensor experienced noticeable damage from radiation during the 56th orbit in late 2023, increasing noise in the resulting images. However, there is still enough detail to produce sharp imagery through more intensive processing.
==Additional camera proposal== In 2005 the Italian Space Agency (ASI) proposed an additional visible light instrument "ItaCam", but instead they built a near-infrared camera/spectrometer, the Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) and a Ka-band transponder. ASI previously contributed a near-infrared instrument to the ''Cassini–Huygens'' Saturn probe. The Ka-band instrument, ''KaTS'', is a component of the Gravity Science experiment.<ref name=spaced>[http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Juno_Gets_A_Little_Bigger_With_One_More_Payload_For_Jovian_Delivery_999.html Bruce Moomaw, "Juno Gets A Little Bigger With One More Payload For Jovian Delivery", 2007]</ref>
==Gallery== ;Earth <gallery widths="150px" heights="150px"> File:Southern Atlantic and Antarctica from Juno flyby - October 9, 2013.jpg|A color view of Earth assembled from 82 images as the spacecraft spun, at an altitude of 1,987 miles (3,197 kilometers), 10 minutes before closest approach File:Junoearthflyby.jpg|JunoCam views Earth (centered on South America) in October 2013 during the spacecraft's flyby en route to Jupiter </gallery> {{clear}} ;Jupiter system <gallery widths="150px" heights="150px"> File:PIA21032 Jupiter Down Under.jpg|Jupiter's polar region captured by JunoCam. File:PIA21641-Jupiter-SouthernStorms-JunoCam-20170525.jpg|Jupiter – southern storms – viewed by JunoCam.<ref name="NYT-20170525">{{cite news|last=Chang|first=Kenneth|title=NASA's Jupiter Mission Reveals the 'Brand-New and Unexpected'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/science/nasa-juno-spacecraft-jupiter-storms.html|date=May 25, 2017|work=New York Times|accessdate=May 27, 2017 }}</ref> File:Pioneer 11 - Jupiter - p176.jpg|Jupiter's polar region in 1974 during ''Pioneer 11''{{'}}s gravity assist to Saturn. (Historical background for Jupiter imaging) File:PIA24681-1041-Ganymede-JupiterMoon-Juno-20210607.jpg|Ganymede, photographed on {{dts|2021.06.07|format=dmy}} by ''Juno'' during its extended mission </gallery> {{clear}} ;Io, moon <gallery widths="150px" heights="150px"> File:Io seen by JunoCam.png|Io, as recorded by JunoCam<br />(2 September 2017) File:PIA26234-JupiterMoonIo-Volcanos-20231015.jpg|Io, viewed by JunoCam<br />(15 October 2023)<br />Several Volcanos File:PIA26235-JupiterMoonIo-Plume-20231015.jpg|Io, viewed by JunoCam<br />(15 October 2023)<br />Volcanic plume </gallery> {{clear}}
==See also== * Citizen science * ''Galileo'' (spacecraft), NASA space probe to Jupiter 1989–2003.
Other cameras manufactured by Malin Space Science Systems: * Context (CTX) Camera also for the MRO spacecraft * Mars Color Imager for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) * Mars Orbiter Camera
Other ''Juno'' instruments: * JEDI * Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment (JADE) * Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) * Magnetometer (Juno) (MAG)
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commonscat}} *[http://www.msss.com/all_projects/junocam.php MSSS JunoCam for ''Juno'' Jupiter Orbiter] *[http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-133 Big Dipper (Ursa Major) by JunoCam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210323140547/http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-133 |date=2021-03-23 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20150702121637/http://missionjuno.swri.edu/media-gallery Earth flyby pics] (B&W and color) *[http://www.msss.com/junocam_efb/efbimg.html Earth flyby pics] (raw) *[http://www.nasa.gov/content/earth-from-juno/ Earth flyby pic] (B&W) *[https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/processing JunoCam image release gallery] *[https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21378/juno-s-close-look-at-a-little-red-spot Little Red Spot by JunoCam (Jan 26, 2017 release from Dec flyby)] *[https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA23436 Series of images of the GRS by JunoCam] {{Junojupiternav}}
Category:Space imagers Category:Space telescopes Category:Juno (spacecraft)