Image captionJuno spied Jupiter from 4.5 million km on 23 August. Left is a full colour composite; right uses the camera's infrared filter
A probe flown by the US space agency Nasa
has made its first close approach to the planet Jupiter sincegoing into orbit in July.
Junowas commanded to pass just 4,200km
above the cloud tops of the gas giant on Saturday.
No previous spacecraft has got so
close to the world during the main phase of its mission.
Juno had all its instruments -
and its camera - switched on and primed for the encounter.
Nasa expects to be in a position
to release some images from the approach in the next few days. They will be the
highest resolution pictures ever obtained of Jupiter's clouds.
The moment of closest approach
was set for 12:51 GMT.
At that time, Juno would have
been moving at 208,000km/h with respect to the planet, sweeping from north to
south over the multi-banded atmosphere.
Image copyrightNASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
Image captionVarious probes have taken images of Jupiter, but Juno's will be the highest resolution yet
The probe became gravitationally bound to
Jupiter on 5 July after a five-year, 2.8-billion-km journey from Earth.
Executing a carefully
choreographed engine burn, the spacecraft put itself in a large ellipse around
the world that takes some 53 days to traverse.
"[On 5 July] we turned all
our instruments off to focus on the rocket burn to get Juno into orbit around
Jupiter," explained principal investigator Scott Bolton.
"Since then, we have checked
Juno from stem to stern and back again. We still have more testing to do, but
we are confident that everything is working great, so for this upcoming flyby
Juno's eyes and ears, our science instruments, will all be open.
"This is our first
opportunity to really take a close-up look at the king of our Solar System and
begin to figure out how he works," the Southwest Research Institute
scientist said in a Nasa statement prior to the flyby.
Image copyrightAP
Image captionJuno arrived at Jupiter on 5 July (GMT)
Juno's quest is to probe the secrets of the
Solar System by explaining the origin and evolution of its biggest planet.
The spacecraft's remote sensing
instruments will look down into the giant's many layers and measure their
composition, temperature, motion and other properties.
We should finally discover
whether Jupiter has a solid core or if its gas merely compresses to an ever
denser state all the way to the centre.
We will also gain new insights on
the famous Great Red Spot - the colossal storm that has raged on Jupiter for
hundreds of years. Juno will tell us how deep its roots go.
Controllers will send the probe
on another 53-day orbit before firing the probe's engine once again on 19
October to tighten the circuit to just 14 days.
The configuration will then be
held until February 2018 when the spacecraft will be commanded to make a
destructive dive into Jupiter’s atmosphere.
§Jupiter is 11 times
wider than Earth and 300 times more massive
§It takes 12 Earth
years to orbit the Sun; a 'day' is 10 hours long
§In composition it
resembles a star; it's mostly hydrogen and helium
§Under pressure, the
hydrogen becomes an electrically conducting fluid
§This 'metallic
hydrogen' is likely the source of the magnetic field
§Most of the visible
cloud tops contain ammonia and hydrogen sulphide
§Jupiter's 'stripes'
are created by strong east-west winds
§The Great Red Spot is
a giant storm vortex twice as wide as Earth
Image captionUntil 2011 German conscripts had to do military service, like these cadets in Marienberg
Germany may reintroduce a form of national service for
civilians to help the army deal with a future disaster.
The role of civilians is part of
a new civil defence strategy to be discussed by the government on Wednesday.
Since the strategy was leaked to
the media there has been intense debate about stockpiling food and water.
In a crisis civilians might be
obliged to help direct traffic or provide fuel and accommodation for the
military, German news agency DPA reported.
Germans appeared generally
unfazed by what some MPs have called government "scaremongering" but
the word "Wehrpflicht" (conscription) was trending on social media on
Tuesday.
The topic of civil defence also
boosted the popularity of hamsters on social media, as Germans, with more than
a hint of irony, adopted the hashtag "Hamsterkaeufe", which means
panic-buying or hoarding like a hamster.
Germany's Die Tageszeitung daily sported abig
picture of a hamsteron
its front page, with the headline "The End is Nigh" - which was
widely tweeted.
Image captionDie Tageszeitung caught the Zeitgeist - hamsters are in vogue
A satiricalarticle
in Die Welt(in
German) joked that "Hamsters are sold out in Germany". It said the
lack of hamsters presented the nation with "an unprecedented humanitarian
disaster".
The article was bylined, in
English: "Jean Gnatzig, Head of Silly Con
Image copyrightSCREENSHOT
Image captionDie Welt's caption says: "Best defence against terror, floods and panicmongering: A fighting hamster"
Threat of 'hybrid' conflict
The government said a
national disaster was "unlikely" but preparations were needed in case
of a future terror attack or "hybrid" conflict involving cyber
warfare, which could damage key infrastructure.
Russia's military
intervention in Ukraine in 2014 - the clandestine seizure of Crimea and support
for separatist rebels - has been widely described as "hybrid
warfare".
Germany scrapped
compulsory national service in 2011, but provision for it remains in the
constitution, so it could easily be reinstated, DPA says.
During the Cold War,
national service meant that West Germany could mobilise 495,000 soldiers and
boost the numbers to about 1.2m if necessary by calling up reservists.
School leavers had the
option of doing 18 months' civilian service - for example in a hospital -
instead of nine months in the military.
But at the height of
the Cold War - in the 1960s and 1980s - conscripts had to spend 18 months in
the military. Women were exempt from conscription.
Stocking up
The new civil defence
plan includes advice for citizens to store enough food to last 10 days, because
emergency services might be fully stretched dealing with a major disaster.
On drinking water, the
advice is to stockpile five days' supply - two litres (3.5 pints) per person
daily.
A public health manager with the German Red Cross, Wolfgang
Kast, told
the broadcaster ARD (in German) that the intense debate about
stockpiling showed that "people have become less and less prepared for an
emergency".
"We've got
accustomed - not least because of the internet - to having everything available
at all times," he said.
He listed as key
emergency provisions: water, noodles and tomato sauce, along with any required
medicines, a torch, spare batteries and candles.
On its website the German Federal Office of Civil Protection and
Disaster Assistance (BBK) gives citizens a
survival list for emergencies, enough to last two weeks. The
list includes:
§28 litres (6.2
gallons) of drinking water
§4.9kg (10.8 pounds) of
bread, noodles, rice, potatoes
§5.6kg (12.3 pounds) of
vegetables and pulses (preferably pre-cooked)
§3.6kg (eight pounds)
of fruit and nuts (in jars or tins)
Image copyrightBBK
Image captionGermany's civil protection unit provides a list of food and drink provisions considered important for survival
Germany's civil defence: Cold War and
now
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionLook-out tower above a former East German bunker near Suhl
About 2,000 public bunkers and shelters were built in West
Germany, with federal funding (former East Germany had its own communist
network of shelters)
§There was a wide mix
of shelters - eg in garages, schools, private cellars
§Special government
nuclear bunker was built in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, 30km (19 miles) from Bonn
§Law says Cold War-era
shelters must not be converted into new types of building
§Germany still has
stockpiles of food - eg milk powder and beans - at secret locations, for a
national emergency
§Inventories are
regularly checked and renewed
§Emergency offices to
issue food and fuel stamps, under national rationing system in a disaster
Tens of thousands of residents have
been evacuated from their homes in California as wildfires continue to burn.
Firefighters have described the blazes as some of the most ferocious they have
ever tackled.
You may be familiar with seeing the average
wind speed icons on TV, online and on the BBC Weather app. However, winds often
do the most damage when they gust, which is a sudden blast of strong wind.
When the weather forecast predicts gusts of
wind over 40mph, our wind icon will change from the usual white to black. The
black icon will help inform you in advance of potential hazards that may shape
your day - whether it's your umbrella turning inside out or more severe impact
on transport.
The United States Olympic Committee has apologised for
what it called the unacceptable behaviour of four US swimmers who falsely said
they had been robbed at gunpoint in Rio.
Police questioned three of the
gold medal winners and say "they were not victims of the crimes they
claimed".
Two of the four - Gunnar Bentz
and Jack Conger - were allowed to fly out of Rio on Thursday evening.
Ryan Lochte had already left, and
James Feigen remains in Brazil.
Mr Bentz and Mr Conger had been
taken off a plane at Rio airport on Wednesday and taken for questioning.
Mr Lochte had initially said the
four were robbed at gunpoint when they were returning by taxi from a club.
But Rio's civil police head
Fernando Veloso said the four Olympic gold medallists had not been robbed.
"No robbery was committed
against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed,'' he
said.
He told reporters that one or
more of the athletes had instead vandalised a toilet in a petrol station and
then offered to pay for the damage.
The Americans paid and left after
armed security guards intervened, he said.
One guard had justifiably drawn
his gun after one of the swimmers began behaving erratically, Mr Veloso added.
He warned that the swimmers, who
had repeatedly changed their accounts of what happened, could "in
theory" face charges of giving false testimony and vandalism.
But later on Thursday, the men's
lawyer Sergio Riera said Mr Bentz and Mr Conger had been allowed to leave the
country by a special Olympic court.
"They are on their way to
the airport," Mr Riera said.
However, Mr Feigen remains in
Brazil.
He "provided a revised statement this evening
(Thursday) with the hope of securing the release of his passport as soon as
possible," saidthe
US Olympic Committee (USOC).
The USOC statement confirmed the
version of events given by Mr Veloso, and added that "the behaviour of
these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team
USA".
Four views of Ryan Lochte
Slate:
"Maybe he's just a lunk, or
a doofus, or a Faulknerian idiot man-child, or the real-world analogue of Moose
from Archie. There are all sorts of unflattering descriptors that might apply
to Ryan Lochte."
Washington
Post:
"There is a special category
of obnoxious American 'bro' that Lochte represents, in his T-shirt and jeans and
expensive suede footwear, which he showed off on Instagram that night at the
party along with the price tag. 'We're 6k deep here,' he captioned it. Is there
anything worse, in any country, than a bunch of entitled young drunks who break
the furniture and pee on a wall?"
San
Francisco Chronicle:
"It doesn't matter what else
Lochte has done in his Olympic career. This cemented his legacy: most
embarrassing Olympic athlete."
New
York Post:
"He cried wolf and was
called on it, and that will be his burden to bear for a good long while - but
not his alone. The Ugly American is alive and well in 2016 thanks to this
dope."
Earlier, a Rio 2016
spokesman had tried to make light of the case.
"These kids tried
to have fun, they tried to represent their country to the best of their abilities,"
Mario Andrada told reporters.
"They competed
under gigantic pressure. Let's give these kids a break. Sometime you take
actions that you later regret.
"They had fun,
they made a mistake, life goes on."
How the story evolved
Sunday 14 August
§Ryan Lochte's mother
tells US media her son has been robbed in Rio de Janeiro
§Mr Lochte gives an account
of the events, saying he, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and James Feigen
were returning by taxi from a club in the early hours of the morning when they
were robbed at gunpoint by men who forced the vehicle to pull over
§The swimmers do not
report the incident to police or to the US Olympic Committee, and police
officers only get involved after seeing TV reports
Monday 15 August
§Police investigating
the case say there are inconsistencies in the men's accounts
Tuesday 16 August
§CCTV footage emerges
of the men's return to the athletes' village showing them laughing and joking,
and handing over wallets and phones as they go through the security screens
Wednesday 17 August
§Ryan Lochte admits
there were inaccuracies in his original account of being robbed at gunpoint,
but vehemently denies
making the story up
§Judge orders that the
passports of the four men be seized before it emerges that Mr Lochte has
already left for the US
§Gunnar Bentz and Jack
Conger taken off a US-bound plane at Rio de Janeiro airport
Thursday 18 August
§Brazilian police
sources tell media outlets that the men invented a story about a robbery to
disguise a dispute over a damaged bathroom door at a petrol station in Barra da
Tijuca, 16km (10 miles) from the Olympic Park
§CCTV video emerges
that appears to show the athletes being detained and ordered to sit on the
ground
§Gunnar Bentz and Jack
Conger enter a Rio police station for questioning
§Head of Rio's civil
police emphatically denies a robbery took place, saying the case centred around
an incident of vandalism and payment for damage
§Gunnar Bentz and Jack
Conger fly out of Rio, with James Feigen unable to travel as his passport is
still held by the Brazilian authorities
Who are the swimmers?
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionRyan Lochte: 12 Olympic medalsImage copyrightREUTERSImage captionJames Feigen won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay
Lochte is one of the
most successful swimmers in history, with 12 Olympic medals, and he once had
his own reality television show in the US. In Rio, he swam in two events,
winning gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay along with Conger.
Feigen won gold in the
4x100m freestyle relay.
Bentz competed in the
4x200m preliminaries, but not the final. He still received a gold medal after
the US team's win.
NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SWRI/MSSS
NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE
AP
