Juno captures unprecedented close-up images of Jupiter's moon Thebe

In the long human effort to understand the outer solar system, NASA's Juno spacecraft paused in May 2026 to turn its instruments toward Thebe — one of Jupiter's smallest and least-examined moons — capturing images of a world that has remained largely invisible since its discovery nearly five decades ago. What emerged from this rare close approach were the sharpest portraits ever taken of Thebe's ancient, cratered surface, offering planetary scientists their first meaningful glimpse into a body shaped by billions of years of Jovian gravity and cosmic bombardment. The encounter is less a destina