Exploration

Nine spacecrafts have studied jupiter up close. NASA'S Juno spacecraft is currently studying the gas giant planet from orbit 

The spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, is the first to study the planet's mysterious, cloud-shrouded interior. Scientists also use the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes to regularly check in on Jupiter.

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter. It was followed by Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys. NASA's Galileo mission was first to orbit Jupiter and to send an atmospheric probe into the stormy clouds. The international Ulysses mission used Jupiter's powerful gravity to hurl itself into orbital passes of the Sun's northern and southern poles. Both Cassini and New horizons studied Jupiter as they hurtled on to their main science targets — Saturn for Cassini and Pluto and the Kuiper Belt for New Horizons.

Two new missions are in the works to make close studies of Jupiter's moons NASA's Europa clipper and ESA's Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE).

Jupiter holds a unique place in the history of space exploration. In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei used a new invention called the telescope to look at Jupiter and discovered the first moons known to exist beyond Earth. The discovery ended incorrect, ancient belief that everything, including the Sun and other planets, orbited the Earth.