The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the most powerful telescope to have left Earth orbit. HiRISE is capable of some interesting astronomical observations such as this image of Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System.

January 31, 2007

The HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is the most powerful telescope to have left Earth orbit. HiRISE is capable of some interesting astronomical observations such as this image of Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System.

Scientists took this image of Jupiter and its major satellites in 2007 to calibrate the pointing and color response of the HiRISE camera. This image, a bit blurry when first taken, has been "sharpened" by observers on Earth. With this sharpening, and because Mars is closer to Jupiter than Earth is, this image has a similar resolution to the Hubble Space Telescope's pictures of Jupiter.

In July 2016, NASA's JUNO spacecraft will fly by Jupiter to learn more about the origins of our Solar System.

Credits

NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

ENLARGE

You Might Also Like