JUICE-JANUS observations of Earth in preparation for the JANUS investigation of Jupiter's atmosphere
18 affiliations
- 1University of the Basque Country (Leioa, Spain)
- 2Bilbao School of Engineering, Universidad del País Vasco UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
- 3Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA-CSIC), Granada, Spain
- 4German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin, Germany
- 5Italian Space Agency (ASI), Rome, Italy
- 6LIRA, Paris Observatory, Université PSL, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité, CY Cergy Paris Université, CNRS, 92190 Meudon, France
- 7Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
- 8Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
- 9JAXA, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), Sagamihara, Japan
- 10NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
- 11INAF, Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IAPS), Rome, Italy
- 12INAF, Astronomical Observatory of Padova (OAPD), Padova, Italy
- 13CISAS “G. Colombo”, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
- 14Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- 15Space Agency, ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
- 16European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), Villanueva de la Cañada, Madrid, Spain
- 17INAF – OACN (Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte), Napoli, Italy
- 18School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
Abstract
JANUS (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator), the high-resolution camera on the JUICE mission (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer), obtained observations of the Earth during and short-after a Lunar and Earth Gravitational Assist maneuver (LEGA) that was run on August 19–20, 2024. We report on the observations of the Earth that were acquired on August 20, 2024 at a closest approach to the surface of 8,408 km, and on September 9, 2024 at a distance of 564,300 km. The close approach observations covered a narrow strip of the Earth, starting in the night-side of the planet and moving over the terminator and day-side. The later observation provided a low spatial resolution portrait of the Earth and the Moon. Here we examine JANUS observations of the Earth as an example of the different science topics that will be addressed in future observations of Jupiter's atmosphere. The Earth night-side images show atmospheric airglow, clouds illuminated by a full Moon, fires in rural areas, lights over the ocean from maritime traffic, city lights, no firm detections of lightning, and two meteor candidates compatible with meteoroids of 1–30 g entering Earth's atmosphere. The day-side images show crepuscular rays under extreme incidence angles, atmospheric gravity waves on elevated cirrus, sun glint on multi-filter images of the tropical Western Pacific, convective storms, internal waves in the ocean and multiple cloud systems at a variety of spatial resolutions. Some images acquired with the panchromatic filter showed islands such as Luzon and the Big Island of Hawaii. We compare spectral trends of the ocean and various cloud systems extracted from JANUS multi-spectral images with spectra from the EnMAP and PRISMA satellites. JANUS images acquired on September 9, 2024 allow to form a multi-spectral view of the Earth at low spatial resolution. The data confirm the expected instrument performance in terms of optical quality and multi-wavelength radiometry precision, and the ensemble of observations contains a wide variety of features that are good analogs to multiple systems in Jupiter's atmosphere.
Related
- Preparation of a celestial field for precise VLBI observations of the JUICE spacecraft: a test case of the Venus flyby
- The Ultraviolet Spectrograph on ESA's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer Mission (JUICE-UVS)
- Juice/SWI during the Lunar-Earth-Gravity-Assist (LEGA) – Part 3: Observations of the Earth as calibration target
- Atmosphere mitigation in cosmic microwave background observations using multifrequency time-domain component separation
- Revealing the Spatial Distribution of Dust and Plasma Solitary Waves in Jupiter's Innermost Magnetosphere Using Juno Waves Observations
BibTeX
@article{hueso2026juicejanus,
title = {{JUICE-JANUS observations of Earth in preparation for the JANUS investigation of Jupiter's atmosphere}},
author = {R. Hueso and Arrate Antuñano and Luisa María Lara and Katrin Stephan and Angelo Zinzi and Athena Coustenis and Yoav Yosef Yair and Mitsuteru Sato and Junichi Haruyama and Amy A. Simon and C. Tubiana and Luca Penasa and Livio Agostini and Alice Lucchetti and Alessio Aboudan and Michael Aye and Elke Kersten and Klaus‐Dieter Matz and R. Politi and F. Trauthan and Ry Evill and Inès Belgacem and Takahashi Yukihiro and Jose Maria Castro and Vincenzo Della Corte and Stubbe Faurschou Hviid and T. Roatsch and Nicole Schmitz and M.R. Patel and Ganna Portyankina and P. Palumbo},
journal = {Annales Geophysicae},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/angeo-44-1043-2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-1043-2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - JUICE-JANUS observations of Earth in preparation for the JANUS investigation of Jupiter's atmosphere
AU - R. Hueso
AU - Arrate Antuñano
AU - Luisa María Lara
AU - Katrin Stephan
AU - Angelo Zinzi
AU - Athena Coustenis
AU - Yoav Yosef Yair
AU - Mitsuteru Sato
AU - Junichi Haruyama
AU - Amy A. Simon
AU - C. Tubiana
AU - Luca Penasa
AU - Livio Agostini
AU - Alice Lucchetti
AU - Alessio Aboudan
AU - Michael Aye
AU - Elke Kersten
AU - Klaus‐Dieter Matz
AU - R. Politi
AU - F. Trauthan
AU - Ry Evill
AU - Inès Belgacem
AU - Takahashi Yukihiro
AU - Jose Maria Castro
AU - Vincenzo Della Corte
AU - Stubbe Faurschou Hviid
AU - T. Roatsch
AU - Nicole Schmitz
AU - M.R. Patel
AU - Ganna Portyankina
AU - P. Palumbo
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/13
JO - Annales Geophysicae
DO - 10.5194/angeo-44-1043-2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.5194/angeo-44-1043-2026
AB - JANUS (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator), the high-resolution camera on the JUICE mission (JUpiter ICy moons Explorer), obtained observations of the Earth during and short-after a Lunar and Earth Gravitational Assist maneuver (LEGA) that was run on August 19–20, 2024. We report on the observations of the Earth that were acquired on August 20, 2024 at a closest approach to the surface of 8,408 km, and on September 9, 2024 at a distance of 564,300 km. The close approach observations covered a narrow strip of the Earth, starting in the night-side of the planet and moving over the terminator and day-side. The later observation provided a low spatial resolution portrait of the Earth and the Moon. Here we examine JANUS observations of the Earth as an example of the different science topics that will be addressed in future observations of Jupiter's atmosphere. The Earth night-side images show atmospheric airglow, clouds illuminated by a full Moon, fires in rural areas, lights over the ocean from maritime traffic, city lights, no firm detections of lightning, and two meteor candidates compatible with meteoroids of 1–30 g entering Earth's atmosphere. The day-side images show crepuscular rays under extreme incidence angles, atmospheric gravity waves on elevated cirrus, sun glint on multi-filter images of the tropical Western Pacific, convective storms, internal waves in the ocean and multiple cloud systems at a variety of spatial resolutions. Some images acquired with the panchromatic filter showed islands such as Luzon and the Big Island of Hawaii. We compare spectral trends of the ocean and various cloud systems extracted from JANUS multi-spectral images with spectra from the EnMAP and PRISMA satellites. JANUS images acquired on September 9, 2024 allow to form a multi-spectral view of the Earth at low spatial resolution. The data confirm the expected instrument performance in terms of optical quality and multi-wavelength radiometry precision, and the ensemble of observations contains a wide variety of features that are good analogs to multiple systems in Jupiter's atmosphere.
SN - 0992-7689
SN - 1432-0576
ER -