Chandra and Hubble Imaged Jupiter During New Horizons Flyby

While NASA’s New Horizon spacecraft was making its gravity assisted flyby past Jupiter, some friends back at home were watching to help give the science some perspective. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory gathered images of Jupiter for several days before the flyby, and the combined photographs were released today.

New Horizons made its closest approach to Jupiter on February 28, 2007, getting as close as 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from the great planet. In addition to receiving a speed boost, the spacecraft also gathered more than 700 scientific observations of Jupiter and its moons.

Scientists back on Earth combined images taken by Hubble and Chandra together into a single composite image that shows the planet in visible, ultraviolet and X-rays. When the data from New Horizons is analyzed, scientists will be able put them into perspective knowing what the entire planet’s environment was like at the time.

New Horizons will meet up with Pluto in 2015.

Original Source: Chandra News ReleaseHubble News Release

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast with Dr. Pamela Gay. Here's a link to my Mastodon account.

Recent Posts

The First Close-Up Picture of Star Outside the Milky Way

Like a performer preparing for their big finale, a distant star is shedding its outer…

10 hours ago

Here’s What We Know About Earth’s Temporary Mini-Moon

For a little over a month now, the Earth has been joined by a new…

11 hours ago

New Study Suggests Black Holes Get their “Hair” from their Mothers

Despite decades of study, black holes are still one of the most puzzling objects in…

12 hours ago

Gaze at New Pictures of the Sun from Solar Orbiter

74 million kilometres is a huge distance from which to observe something. But 74 million…

12 hours ago

Are Fast Radio Bursts Caused by Interstellar Objects Crashing Into Neutron Stars?

Astronomers have only been aware of fast radio bursts for about two decades. These are…

17 hours ago

Here’s How to Weigh Gigantic Filaments of Dark Matter

How do you weigh one of the largest objects in the entire universe? Very carefully,…

19 hours ago