NASA's Juno Finds Jupiter Is a Tiny Bit Smaller than Previously Thought

For Jupiter, 'Textbooks Will Need to Be Updated'

Jupiter hasn't shrunk, but our best measurement of it just did. Using fresh data from NASA's Juno spacecraft, scientists say the solar system's largest planet is slightly smaller and squatter than decades-old estimates suggested, reports Smithsonian Magazine . The revised dimensions, published in Nature Astronomy , trim roughly 15 miles off Jupiter's...

Jupiter Is Smaller and Flatter Than Believed, NASA’s Juno Data Reveals

Jupiter in true color. Credit: NASA/STSCI (S.T.A.R.S) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is slightly smaller and flatter than scientists have believed for decades, according to new research based on data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Using highly detailed radio measurements collected by Juno, researchers refined estimates of the planet’s size and shape. Although the differences are subtle, scienti…

Scientists Say That Jupiter—the Solar System's Largest Planet—Might Be Slightly Smaller Than Previously Thought

Updated measurements from NASA’s Juno spacecraft could help researchers better understand the planet's mysterious interior, as well as other gas giants

The size and shape of Jupiter

Jupiter, the fastest-rotating planet in the Solar System, exhibits a pronounced equatorial bulge, with its equatorial radius exceeding the polar radius by approximately 7%. This oblate shape reflects the combined effects of rapid rotation, complex internal structure and atmospheric winds. Existing estimates of Jupiter’s shape, with uncertainties of about 4 km, are based on a single analysis of Voyager and Pioneer radio occultations from nearly fi

NASA's Juno mission finds Jupiter smaller, flatter than previously thought

Data from NASA's Juno mission show that Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, is slightly smaller and more "squashed" than previously believed, the U.S. space agency said on Wednesday.By analyzing radio occultation data from 13 close flybys

Jupiter smaller than science dictated, NASA, Weizmann find

“This research helps us understand how planets form and evolve… by studying what’s happening inside Jupiter, we get closer to understanding how planets like ours came to be.”