The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ( JUICE ) mission run by the European Space Agency ( ESA ) has taken the shrewd images ever produced of the Earth ’s radiation belt .

JUICE has a long mission ahead of it . Launched in April 2023 , the space vehicle has to make several gravitational assists before it gain its objective of Jupiter and three of its large moons – Ganymede , Callisto , and Europa – include onenever - before - seek maneuverusing both the Earth and the Moon .

While performing that manoeuvre in August 2024 , JUICE conducted several test of its instruments before of collecting data on Jupiter ’s Moon , admit one test thatdetected signs of life on Earth . NASA ’s instrument were also put to use during the flyby , including the Jovian Energetic Neutrals and Ions ( JENI ) instrument , which imaged the Earth as it sped away .

" What it captured is invisible to the human middle , " Patricia Talbert , a member of NASA ’s planetary defense mechanism squad , explains . " Unlike traditional cameras that swear on igniter , JENI uses special sensor to capture energetic neutral speck give out by charged particles interacting with the extended atmospheric hydrogen gas ring Earth . "

The effect is a sensational look at the Earth ’s radiation belts .

Just beyond low - Earth orbit , the major planet is surrounded by radiation bash sometimes called the Van Allen belt after astrophysicist James Van Allen who assist figure out how to get through them .

" The Earth ’s magnetosphere snare the in high spirits energy radiation particles and harbor the Earth from the solar storm and the always streaming solar hint that can damage technology as well as citizenry living on Earth,“NASA explains .

" These trapped particle form two belts of radiation , known as the Van Allen Belts , that surround the solid ground like enormous donut . The proscribed belt is made up of billions of mellow - energy particles that originate from the Sun and the inside belted ammunition results from interactions of cosmic shaft with Earth ’s air . "

As well as capturing the figure of speech , NASA ’s JENI and the Jovian Energetic Electrons ( JoEE ) instrument gathered data on the interaction between the Moon ’s surface and the space environment during a 30 - minute flyby .

“ As soon as we see the frizzly , new images , gamey fives went around the way , ” said Matina Gkioulidou , deputy lead of JENI , in astatement . “ It was decipherable we had conquer the immense ring of hot plasma encircling Earth in unprecedented detail , an accomplishment that has actuate excitement for what is to come at Jupiter . ”

That mission is still far from beginning , with the probe still jell to make two more flybys of Earth and one flyby of Venus before it arrives at the gas whale in 2031 . But with several key instrument up and bunk , exciting metre lay ahead .