Later today (October 9th) the NASA orbiter Juno will be passing close the Earth to perform a critical gravity assist. The maneuver will accelerate the craft’s velocity by 16,330 mph for its arrival at Jupiter in July 2016. The closest point of the pass will be over South Africa at 19:21 UTC (3:21 p.m. EDT/12:21 PDT) when Juno will be around 350 miles (500 kilometers) from Earth.
During its flyby the scientific instrumentation will be pointed at our home planet gathering both data and a unique movie of the Earth-Moon system. This will allow for testing of the spacecraft and it instruments.
For those who want to keep an eye on things as the orbiter zooms past, Slooh will be tracking the flyby “live”. Viewers can view the event live on Slooh.com using their computer, mobile device or using free iPad app. Questions can be asked on Twitter using the hashtag #nasajuno. Also if you have a pair of binoculars or a small telescope you may be able to view the craft directly.
More info about the Juno flyby and the craft itself can be found at Universe Today and other science news sites.
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