Above the clouds of Jupiter ☁️ On July 9, 1979—44 years ago today—Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Voyager 2 flew less than 350,000 miles (563,000 km) above the gas giant's cloud tops, getting a close-up look at the storms that make up the Great Red Spot. On its way out, Voyager 2 studied Jupiter's moon Io for 10 hours, confirming the existence of active volcanoes, and discovered a previously unknown moon, later named Adrastea. Voyager 2 went on to explore Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune before beginning the interstellar journey that it continues to this day. Voyager 2 left the solar system's heliosphere, the protective bubble created by our Sun, in 2018, and is still sending back data from more than 12 billion miles (20 billion km) away. This image was taken on June 29, 1979, shortly before the spacecraft's closest approach to Jupiter. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Image description: The swirling orange, red, and white ripples of Jupi...