As NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew by the earth for its gravity assist to Jupiter, it passed through Earth’s shadow for a period of 20 minutes. Juno’s imaging camera, called JunoCam, took this image of South Africa at night, catching the lights of Cape Town below. The bright arc across the image is the limb of the planet, wit
As NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew by the earth for its gravity assist to Jupiter, it passed through Earth’s shadow for a period of 20 minutes. Juno’s imaging camera, called JunoCam, took this image of South Africa at night, catching the lights of Cape Town below. The bright arc across the image is the limb of the planet, with the Sun illuminating the highest reaches of the atmosphere.
The image was acquired on October 9, 2013 at 19:19:30 UT, just a few minutes before Juno’s closest approach to the Earth, at an altitude of 421 miles (677 kilometers).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS