European Space Agency’s JUICE probe has captured a stunning shot of Earth, our moon and another one of our planetary neighbours. The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) mission is currently going towards Venus. From here it will undergo a second gravity assist in 2025.
The probe, launched on April 14, 2023, clicked Earth, moon and Uranus in a captivating shot, and the picture was shared by ESA on social media.
“These two little marbles we call our cosmic home were photographed by JUICE from over 5 million km [3 million miles], as the spacecraft waved us goodbye while heading towards Venus,” ESA wrote in a post on X on September 18.
📸 Captured on camera!
🌑🌍 These two little marbles we call our cosmic home were photographed by Juice from over 5 million km, as the spacecraft waved us goodbye while heading towards Venus.
The images were taken using different exposure times as part of inflight tests and… pic.twitter.com/0AtVzPIIC8
— ESA’s Juice mission (@ESA_JUICE) September 18, 2024
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Uranus can be seen as a tiny dot in the background.
“One oversaturated image brought to light a photobomber: planet Uranus, which was 2.9 billion km [1.8 billion miles] away from JUICE,” ESA officials wrote in the post on X. “Can you spot which dot is the planet?”
Another photo shared by ESA shows Earth much more clearly with the moon lurking on the sides.
Say cheese, again! 📸😄
Juice’s scientific camera, JANUS, had a go too at snapping an Earth–Moon portrait, as it sailed off towards Venus.
After its Venus flyby in August 2025, #ESAJuice will be back, passing by Earth again in September 2026 and January 2029.… pic.twitter.com/15jsUpCImA
— ESA’s Juice mission (@ESA_JUICE) September 20, 2024
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“Say cheese, again! Juice’s scientific camera, JANUS, had a go too at snapping an Earth–Moon portrait, as it sailed off towards Venus,” it wrote on Thursday.
The pictures were part of inflight tests and calibrations of the spacecraft’s two monitoring cameras.
Through gravity assist, JUICE will be using Venus’s gravity to force its way towards the Jupiter system where it is expected to reach in 2031. It will return to Earth, making another flyby.
One such gravity assist took place in August when JUICE completed a historic flyby of Earth and the moon. The gravity of Earth helped send the spacecraft towards Venus from where it will take a shortcut to Jupiter through the inner Solar System.
“The gravity assist flyby was flawless; everything went without a hitch, and we were thrilled to see Juice coming back so close to Earth,” JUICE Spacecraft Operations Manager Ignacio Tanco said in a statement.
Two more gravity assists have been planned to help send it to the Jupiter system with minimal fuel use. They will happen in 2026 and 2029.
JUICE has already taken some images of Earth and the moon when it flew just 6840 km above Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
The probe will explore Jupiter and its three large moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – all said to be harbouring oceans.