14 DAY TRIAL // Juno's close flyby of Earth, on its way to Jupiter, was quite eventful. The probe went into safe mode as it departed from Earth sending scientists into a frenzy, trying to figure out what went wrong. Several days later, Juno returned to normal operations and the team was able to focus on the regular issues.
For example, as Juno approached Earth, it also got a chance to test its camera equipment for the first time. The first images of Earth as seen by the probe surfaced shortly after the flyby, but NASA has only now gotten around to stitching them up and publishing a nice, clean mosaic.
"In this image of Earth taken by JunoCam, you can see observations made during Juno’s Earth flyby gravity assist that was completed earlier this month," NASA explained.
"As of Oct. 17, Juno was approximately 4.4 million miles (7.1 million kilometers) from Earth. The one-way radio signal travel time between Earth and Juno is currently about 24 seconds. Juno has now traveled 1.01 billion miles (1.63 billion kilometers, or 10.9 AU) since launch," the agency also provided a status update on the probe.