Nasa’s £800million Juno space probe enters orbit of ‘biggest, baddest planet’ in our solar system
The probe is set to spend 20 months studying mysteries of huge 'gas giant'
NASA's Juno space probe has entered Jupiter's orbit after a 1.8BILLION-MILE journey lasting five years, the space agency has announced.
Scientists faced a nail-biting 35-minute wait to see if the £800million mission had safely gone into orbit around the giant planet.
Juno's approach towards Jupiter was perilous as one wrong move could have caused the probe to spin off into space.
But anxious scientists were finally informed of the mission's success when the probe's account tweeted: "Engine burn complete and orbit obtained. I’m ready to unlock all your secrets, #Jupiter. Deal with it."
A commentator at the American space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California announced "Welcome to Jupiter" to rapturous applause at 4.53am this morning.
A top NASA engineer then tore up a statement he'd prepared in case disaster struck the probe at a jubilant press conference held just hours later.
"Juno sang," . "And it was a song of perfection."
Experts immediately labelled it Nasa's "most difficult" mission.
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Juno is set to spend 20 months uncovering the secrets of Jupiter - which at 11.2 times larger than the Earth is by far the Solar System's largest planet.
Its camera and scientific instruments were switched off prior to entry into the planet's atmosphere but will be turned on in the coming days.
Juno's real work is expected to begin on 27 August when the probe swoops to within 3,000 miles of Jupiter's cloudline.
Scott Bolton, Nasa's principal investigator beamed: "We are in it. You are the best team ever. You just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done."
Expert Sarah Cruddas explained to Sky News: "We have only ever sent a probe into orbit around Jupiter once before, so this is very exciting.
"We still don't know much about [it], we don't really know what it's made of.
"It's almost like it's a mini solar system with many, many moons - three of them bigger than our moon, one bigger than the planet Mercury.
"It's a world we don't know much about."
The probe is the second to orbit Jupiter - which sits between Mars and Saturn in the Solar System - following Nasa's Galileo mission between 1995 and 2003.
It is carrying Lego figures of 16th-century astronomer Galileo, Roman god Jupiter and his wife Juno.
They were constructed out of aluminium to help them withstand the extreme conditions of the 150,000mph journey.
The mission will end in 2018, when the 3.5metre-wide craft is directed into the planet's atmosphere to prevent it colliding with any of Jupiter's 63 moons.
The 'biggest, baddest planet' in our solar system
Jupiter is by far the largest planet in humanity's galactic neighbourhood. It's called a gas giant and is made from hydrogen and helium, making a bit like a .
It is surrounded by rings of radiation which could fry a spaceship's systems.
Steve Levin, project scientist as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, : "It’s the biggest and baddest planet in the solar system and it’s got the biggest and baddest radiation and the biggest and baddest magnetic field.
"No spacecraft has ever flown this close to Jupiter. Flown this deep into the radiation belts."
The planet is famous for the distinctive "great red spot", which is actually a massive storm which has raged for between 186 and 351 years.
Juno will let NASA reveal the truth behind claims that the storm is now abating, .
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