PIA24436: High Energy and Juno's Stellar Reference Unit


High Energy and Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit

Caption:

Click here for animation

This animation gives an X-ray view of the Juno spacecraft's Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) star camera (left) as it is bombarded by high-energy particles in Jupiter's inner radiation belts. Even though the SRU camera head is six times more heavily shielded than Juno's radiation vault, the highest-energy particles in Jupiter's extreme radiation environment can still penetrate, striking the imaging sensor inside. The signatures from high-energy electron and ion hits appear as dots, squiggles, and streaks (right) in the images collected by the SRU, like static on a television screen. Juno's Radiation Monitoring Investigation collects SRU images and uses image processing to extract these radiation-induced noise signatures to profile the radiation levels encountered by Juno during its close flybys of Jupiter.

Background Info:

More information about Juno is at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Jupiter
System Jupiter
Target Type Planet
Mission Juno
Instrument Host Juno
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Stellar Reference Unit (SRU)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2021-03-30
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24436
Identifier PIA24436