These two images are artists impressions of New Horizons at Jupiter. One image shows the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth to the left of the spacecraft, Jupiter to the right, and Jupiter's icy moon Europa above New Horizons. The other shows the spacecraft at closest approach to Jupiter, with the volcanic moon Io hovering over the giant planet. Click on image for full size (244 Kb) Images courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

The New Horizons spacecraft will fly past Jupiter on February 28, 2007. New Horizons, which was launched in January 2006, is just over a year into its 9-year trek to Pluto. The spacecraft will get a gravity assist from Jupiter as it hurtles past the the giant planet while traveling at a speed of 21 km/sec (47,000 mph). The slingshot boost from the massive planet will add 4 km/sec (9,000 mph) to New Horizon's speed, shaving years off its trip to distant Pluto.

The Jupiter encounter will provide the New Horizons mission team with a great opportunity to hone their skills at controlling the spacecraft during a planetary flyby. Encounters such as this are complex; the spacecraft must turn on and off its many instruments at just the right times, orient itself correctly as it zips past the planet, and properly relay the data it gathers back to Earth. The mission scientists and engineers will get a chance to practice their "planetary flyby choreography" at Jupiter as a warm up for the critical Pluto encounter eight years from now. They will also gather some great new data about Jupiter, for New Horizons carries a suite of state-of-the-art instruments and high resolution cameras. At closest approach, the spacecraft will pass within about 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) of Jupiter.

These two pictures show how an artist thinks New Horizons will look at Jupiter. In one picture the Sun and the planets Mercury, Venus and Earth are to the left of the spacecraft. Jupiter is the right of the spacecraft, and Jupiter's icy moon Europa is above New Horizons. In the other picture New Horizons is very close to Jupiter. Jupiter's moon Io (which has volcanoes!) is in front of the giant planet. Click on image for full size (244 Kb) Images courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto. Along the way, it will fly past the giant planet Jupiter. When the spacecraft flies by Jupiter, Jupiter's strong gravity will give New Horizons a "slingshot boost" in speed. The boost will add 4 km/sec (9,000 mph) to the spacecraft's speed. That's quite a boost! The extra speed will make New Horizon's trip to Pluto take less time. Still, the spacecraft won't reach Pluto until 2015!

New Horizons blasted off in January 2006. It will fly by Jupiter on February 28, 2007. It will be going about 21 km/sec (47,000 mph) when it zooms past Jupiter! But Pluto is very far away. Even at these high speeds, it will take New Horizons about nine years to go from Earth to Pluto.

Scientists hope to take some good pictures of Jupiter and gather other data when New Horizons flies past the planet. The spacecraft has very good cameras and other instruments on board.

The New Horizons team will also get to practice a planetary flyby. When a spacecraft flies past a planet, it needs to make a lot of complicated moves. It needs to point its cameras the right way. It needs to turn instruments on and off at the right times. And it needs to radio the data it collects back to Earth. The New Horizons team will get to practice all of this when the spacecraft flies past Jupiter. Then they will be ready when New Horizons finally makes it to Pluto!

These two pictures show how an artist thinks New Horizons will look at Jupiter. One picture shows the Sun and the planets Mercury, Venus and Earth. They are all on the left side of the spacecraft. Jupiter is the right of the spacecraft. Jupiter's moon Europa (which is covered with ice!) is above New Horizons. The other picture shows New Horizons very close to Jupiter. Jupiter's moon Io (which has volcanoes!) is in front of the giant planet. Click on image for full size (244 Kb) Images courtesy NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute.

The New Horizons spacecraft is on its way to Pluto. Along the way, it will fly past the giant planet Jupiter. When the spacecraft flies by Jupiter, Jupiter's strong gravity will give New Horizons a "slingshot boost" in speed. The extra speed will make New Horizon's trip to Pluto take less time. Still, the spacecraft won't reach Pluto until 2015!

New Horizons blasted off in January 2006. It will fly by Jupiter on February 28, 2007. It will be going about 21 km/sec (47,000 mph) when it zooms past Jupiter! But Pluto is very far away. Even at these high speeds, it will take New Horizons about nine years to go from Earth to Pluto.

Scientists hope to take some good pictures of Jupiter when New Horizons flies past the planet. The spacecraft has very good cameras and other instruments.

The New Horizons team will also get to practice a planetary flyby. When a spacecraft flies past a planet, it needs to make a lot of complicated moves. It needs to point its cameras the right way. It needs to turn instruments on and off at the right times. And it needs to radio the data it collects back to Earth. The New Horizons team will get to practice all of this at Jupiter. Then they will be ready when New Horizons finally makes it to Pluto!