Observation by Nick James: JUICE incoming at 7.14 million km

Uploaded by

Nick James

Observer

Nick James

Observed

2026 Sep 20 - 23:33

Uploaded

2026 Sep 21 - 00:50

Objects

Spacecraft

Equipment

ASI6200MM + Celestron HD11

Exposure

60x60s

Location

Chelmsford

Target name

JUICE spacecraft

Title

JUICE incoming at 7.14 million km

About this image

The ESA spacecraft JUICE is approaching the Earth for its second Earth Gravity Assist (EGA). The third and last is in late 2028. It then heads off to Jupiter. The spacecraft is currently 7.14 million km away. This detection is just over 1 arc second from the JPL predicted position for my observatory. The magnitude is measured as 20.2 but there are a few mag 20.5 asteroids in this stack and this appears to be fainter than them so I think 20.5 is an over estimate. The faintest asteroid detected in this stack is 20.8.

Files associated with this observation

2023053A_20260920_233350_ndj.png (289.5 kB)

Like this image

Nigel Evans, Grant Privett, Robin Leadbeater, Dominic Ford, Mike Foulkes, Andy Wilson, Dr Paul Leyland

Comments

Nigel Evans, 2026 Sep 21 - 07:50 UTC

My cloudy skies halted observation. Not seen with a mag limit 19 :-(

Streak at 6 o'clock is 1994AW

Grant Privett, 2026 Sep 21 - 08:36 UTC

Thats impressive with a first quarter Moon in the sky.

Haze and cloud here.

Nick James, 2026 Sep 23 - 21:29 UTC

The spacecraft enters the Earth's umbral shadow around 12 hours before closest approach. Tony Dunn posted this very nice simulation on the MPML mailing list:

http://orbitsimulator.com/BA/JUICE_Sept_28.mp4

JUICE is approaching from the night side of the Earth and the simulation indicates that it will be in umbral shadow from 22:50 UTC on Sept 27 to 01:47 UTC on Sept 28. Unfortunately, it is in the penumbral shadow throughout the night for us in the UK. The US has a much better view and it will be visible through the night, crossing the night/day terminator at around the time of closest approach (11:45 UTC) on Sept 28. It then departs on the day side so won't be visible outbound.

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