Big Bend Astronomers

Hubbard to discuss Jupiter mission with Big Bend astronomers

ALPINE – Big Bend Astronomers will meet Thursday, July 19 at 6:30pm at the McDonald Observatory Visitors Center, and Dr. William B. Hubbard, Professor of Planetary Sciences at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, will be present “The Juno Mission to Jupiter.”

An illustration of the JUNO spacecraft. (courtesy of NASA/JPL)

Juno was launched last August and is due to begin orbiting Jupiter in July 2016.

Hubbard is a co-investigator on the Juno mission and an expert on giant planets.  The public is encouraged to attend.

Dr. Hubbard writes: “Juno was successfully launched last August.  It will complete its first loop around the Sun in 2013, rendezvous with Earth and get a gravity assist, and then proceed onward to an orbital rendezvous with Jupiter in mid-2016.  Juno is currently working flawlessly.  Once it reaches Jupiter, Juno will enter a highly elliptical orbit that will allow it to pass just 5,000 km above Jupiter’s cloud tops at low northern latitudes, and will pass directly above both the north and south poles.

Dr. Bill Hubbard of the University of Arizona

“The views from JunoCam should be spectacular.  Meantime, Juno’s highly sensitive gravity experiment will reveal some of Jupiter’s deep structure.  Other experiments will explore the composition of Jupiter’s deep atmosphere.  I will describe the basic purpose of Juno as an experiment to study in detail a giant planet that has many counterparts elsewhere in the Galaxy.  I’ll also describe how amateur astronomers can contribute to the mission.”

The Big Bend Sentinel featured Hubbard, who has family ties to Marfa, and the mission last year: http://bigbendnow.com/2011/06/scientist-with-area-ties-to-study-jupiter-up-close-and-personal/.

Information: 432-837-5677 or email davedarksky@mac.com.