6 million miles from Earth and Juno has snapped an awesome picture of our planet and its natural satellite. Wow – check it out!

The Earth and Moon as seen by Juno

The Earth and Moon as seen by Juno on it's way to Jupiter

Juno is a NASA mission to Jupiter that launched on August 5th this year. The solar-powered craft will take five years to get into orbit of the solar system’s largest planet and will use the Earth’s gravity to slingshot it in that direction in 2013.

Juno's interplanetary trajectory.

Juno's interplanetary trajectory showing how it'll use Earth's gravity to slingshot it towards Jupiter.

Mission Timeline
Launch – August 5, 2011
Earth flyby gravity assist – October 2013
Jupiter arrival – July 2016
On reaching its destination, the spacecraft will orbit Jupiter 32 times, skimming to within 3,100 miles (5,000 kilometers) above the planet’s cloud tops, for approximately one year before a deorbit in October 2017.