This page showcases our resources for those interested in learning more about Jupiter. It includes activities that can be done at home as well as videos, animations, stories, and articles.
HighlightsVideos & Animations
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Like the speed of an advancing race car driver, the winds in the outermost “lane” of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot are accelerating – a discovery only made possible by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which has monitored the planet for more than a decade.
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Join Dr. Yasmina Martos, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, as she takes us on a journey to Jupiter aboard Juno, showing major discoveries about the planet and interactions with its moons.
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On June 7, 2021, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew closer to Jupiter’s ice-encrusted moon Ganymede than any spacecraft in more than two decades. Less than a day later, Juno made its 34th flyby of Jupiter. This animation provides a “starship captain” point of view of each flyby.
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This video uses images from NASA’s Juno mission to recreate what it might have looked like to ride along with the Juno spacecraft as it performed its 27th close flyby of Jupiter on June 2, 2020.
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The Juno spacecraft posed extreme design challenges for engineers. Learn how the Juno team protected Juno’s “vital organs” and sensitive science instruments from the elements.
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Explore imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope that reveals in-depth features on Jupiter.
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Take a tour of Jupiter’s dynamo, the source of its giant magnetic field, in this global map from the Juno mission.
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Learn about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot and how it is not only shrinking but is actually growing taller and is deepening in color.
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Explore these visualizations of Jupiter’s magnetic field structure.
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Learn about the detection of water vapor on Jupiter’s moon Europa.
Activities
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Become a Jovian Vortex Hunter!
Help astrophysicists analyze the stunning images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft! A NASA citizen science project, Jovian Vortex Hunter, seeks your help spotting vortices – spiral wind patterns – and other phenomena in gorgeous photos of the planet Jupiter. -
Color With NASA: Jupiter ft. Juno Project Scientist Steve Levin
Color Jupiter with the project scientist for NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Juno is a NASA spacecraft that helps scientists learn more about Jupiter. -
Bring Your Colossal Creativity to Giant Jupiter!
Inspired by JunoCam images, each of these coloring sheets features different viewpoints of Jupiter the way the Juno spacecraft sees it. Unleash your creativity and download one of these coloring pages today! -
Jiggly Jupiter
In this activity, you will build edible models of Jupiter and Earth to compare their sizes and illustrate their internal layers.Note: This activity is recommended for children ages 8 to 13.
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Jupiter’s Storms
Jupiter has storms, but its storms are unlike anything found on Earth! Create your own storms using corn starch, glitter, and water and compare your observations with videos of Jupiter’s and Earth’s storm movements.Note: This activity is recommended for children ages 8 to 13.
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Jupiter’s Water Cycle
Observe the water cycle in action! Water vapor in a tumbler condenses on chilled aluminum foil — producing the liquid form of water familiar to us as rain and dew. Learn how Jupiter’s lack of a surface simplifies its water cycle.Note: This activity is recommended for children ages 8 to 13.
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Make a Jupiter Orbiter
Create your very own Juno spacecraft! And you can even use your spacecraft to uncover secrets beneath Jupiter – just like the real Juno. -
Make a Planet Mask!
Learn about the planets in our solar system, and make your very own wearable planet mask.
Stories
Juno’s Extended Mission to Jupiter
In early 2021, NASA authorized a mission extension of Juno which continues its investigation of Jupiter through September 2025, or until the spacecraft’s end of life. This expansion tasks Juno with becoming an explorer of the full Jovian system – Jupiter and its rings and moons – with multiple rendezvous planned for three of Jupiter’s most intriguing Galilean moons: Ganymede, Europa, and Io.
As part of Juno’s extended mission, the spacecraft flew by Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa on Sept. 29, 2022. At its closest approach, the spacecraft came within a distance of about 219 miles (352 kilometers). Observations from the spacecraft’s pass of the moon provided the first close-up in over two decades of this ocean world, resulting in remarkable imagery and unique science.
On Aug. 4, 2021, NASA’s Juno mission celebrated 10 years since it launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spacecraft has made numerous scientific discoveries since arriving at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. A snapshot of these includes the first definitive detection beyond Earth of an internal magnetic field that changes over time, Jupiter’s “shallow lightning” and “mushballs”, and the origins of Jovian polar light shows.
Follow along with Juno during its extended mission here.
Articles
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NASA’s Juno Exploring Jovian Moons During Extended MissionAfter revealing a trove of details about the moons Ganymede and Europa, the mission to Jupiter is setting its sights on sister moon Io.
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Citizen scientists have provided unique perspectives of Juno’s close flyby of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa on Sept. 29, 2022.
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An audio track collected during Juno’s June 7, 2021, flyby of the Jovian moon Ganymede offers a dramatic ride-along experience.
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Findings from NASA’s Juno probe provide a fuller picture of how Jupiter’s distinctive and colorful atmospheric features offer clues about the unseen processes below its clouds.
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The science team for NASA’s Juno spacecraft produced a new infrared map of the mammoth Jovian moon Ganymede, combining data from three flybys. These observations provide new information on Ganymede’s icy shell and the composition of the ocean of liquid water beneath.
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Jupiter is hotter than it should be given its distance from the Sun, and the source of this extra heat has remained elusive for 50 years, causing scientists to refer to the discrepancy as an “energy crisis” for the planet.
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By listening to the rain of electrons flowing onto Jupiter from its intensely volcanic moon Io, researchers using NASA’s Juno spacecraft have found what triggers the powerful radio emissions within the monster planet’s gigantic magnetic field.
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On June 7, 2021, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew closer to Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, than any other spacecraft in more than two decades, offering dramatic glimpses of both the icy orb and the gas giant.
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Data collected by NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter indicate that the atmospheric winds of the gas giant planet run deep into its atmosphere and last longer than similar atmospheric processes found here on Earth.
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Juno’s mission has been extended such that the spacecraft will continue its investigation of Jupiter through September 2025, or until the spacecraft’s end of life.
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On June 7, 2021, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew closer to Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, than any other spacecraft has in more than two decades, offering dramatic glimpses of the icy orb.
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If you look up at the night sky just before dawn, or after dusk, you might see a faint column of light extending up from the horizon. That luminous glow is the zodiacal light, or sunlight reflected toward Earth by a cloud of tiny dust particles orbiting the Sun. Astronomers have long thought that the dust comes from a few of the asteroid and comet families that venture in from afar. But now, a team of Juno scientists argues that Mars may be the culprit.
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Results from NASA’s Juno mission at Jupiter suggest our solar system’s largest planet is home to what’s called “shallow lightning.” Other findings suggest the violent thunderstorms for which Jupiter is known may form slushy ammonia-rich hailstones Juno’s science team calls “mushballs.”
Image Highlights
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Vortices Near Jupiter’s North Pole
As NASA’s Juno mission completed its 43rd close flyby of Jupiter on July 5, 2022, its JunoCam instrument captured this striking view of vortices – hurricane-like spiral wind patterns – near the planet’s north pole. -
Juno Captures Moon Shadow on Jupiter
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view of Jupiter during the mission’s 40th close pass by the giant planet on Feb. 25, 2022. The large, dark shadow on the left side of the image was cast by Jupiter’s moon Ganymede. -
Juno Flyby of Jupiter Captures Two Massive Storms
This image of Jupiter’s turbulent southern hemisphere was captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft as it performed a close flyby of the gas giant planet on Dec. 21, 2018. -
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot: Both Deep and Wide
NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this detailed look at Jupiter’s most recognizable feature, the Great Red Spot, on July 10, 2017. -
Giant Storms and High Clouds
This image shows two of Jupiter’s large rotating storms, captured by Juno’s visible-light imager, JunoCam, on Nov. 29, 2021. -
Churning Texture in Jupiter’s Atmosphere
NASA’s Juno mission captured these elaborate atmospheric jets in Jupiter’s northern mid-latitude region. -
Jupiter’s Racing Stripes
This enhanced-color image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft captures the striking cloud bands of Jupiter’s southern latitudes. -
Jupiter’s Visible and Invisible Winds
This image from NASA’s Juno mission captures the northern hemisphere of Jupiter around the region known as Jet N7. The planet’s strong winds create the many swirling storms visible near the top of its atmosphere. -
Juno Returns to “Clyde's Spot” on Jupiter
During its 33rd low pass over the cloud tops of Jupiter on April 15, 2021, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured the intriguing evolution of a feature in the giant planet’s atmosphere known as “Clyde’s Spot.”
Other Resources
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Check out this blog from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope that highlights images Webb captured of Jupiter, and the science we are learning from the images.
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Join Dr. Jared Espley, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, as he discusses Jupiter and the Juno mission.
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This NASA poster set showcases the beauty of our solar system and beyond. Website links and optional poster backs containing orbit diagrams and context provide additional details and a deeper dive to explore our galactic neighborhood.
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Find out where Juno is at the present moment with this interactive platform.
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The Solar System Treks are online, browser-based portals that allow you to explore the surfaces of other worlds using real data returned from a growing fleet of spacecraft.