Chandra and Hubble Imaged Jupiter During New Horizons Flyby

By Fraser Cain - March 1, 2007 at 4:14 PM UTC | Planetary Science

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.

Chandra News Release

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Hubble News Release

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today, founding the website in March 1999. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast.