![]() Apart from slow-scan images of the planet, data returned also helped us learn that Jupiter’s magnetic field is tilted 15° to its axis of rotation. The probe’s encounter with Jupiter was a great success. The damage caused served as a learning as it was made abundantly clear that future missions to the outer planets would require enhanced protective equipment. As it continued on its trajectory, changes induced by radiation on its systems disappeared in the months that followed. Pioneer 10’s brief tour of Jupiter ended officially on January 2, 1974. Having absorbed radiation that is over a thousand times the lethal dose for a human, some of its transistor circuits were fried, optics were darkened, and there were other unwanted side effects too. The spacecraft, however, just managed to survive. ![]() Moving at a speed of 1,26,000 km/hour, the spacecraft whizzed by the giant planet at a distance of about 1,31,000 km. Pioneer 10 made its closest approach with the biggest planet in our solar system on December 4, 1973. Data from Pioneer 10 published in April 1974 suggested that the centuries old anticyclonic storm was likely a towering mass of clouds. The Great Red Spot, a storm on Jupiter that is wider than the Earth, came into Pioneer 10’s view as the spacecraft drew closer to the planet. Even at a distance of 11 million km, the spacecraft began detecting intense radiation and it was revealed that Jupiter’s magnetosphere, much more stronger than that of Earth’s, extended 6.9 million km towards the sun. Pioneer 10’s tryst with Jupiter began in November 1973, a little over one-and-a-half years from its launch. ![]()
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