As NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew toward Earth for its gravity assist to Jupiter, its imaging camera, called JunoCam, took several pictures of the moon. In this image Mare Crisium is the most prominent dark spot, with Mare Marginis and Mare Smythii to the right and Mare Fecunditatis on the terminator.
Amateur image processing enthusiasts are expected to play virtual role on the JunoCam team during the mission, aiding with image processing. This image was rotated to have north up, and the features visible were identified by Phil Stooke at unmannedspaceflight.com.
This image was acquired on October 9, 2013 at 11:07 UT, slightly more than eight hours before Juno’s closest approach to Earth, at a range from the moon of 128,960 miles (207,542 kilometers).
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/Phil Stooke
