The JANUS (Jovis Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) VIS-NIR Multi-Band Imager for the JUICE Mission

Abstract The JANUS instrument (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) aboard the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is a multispectral camera enabling imaging in the 380-1080 nm wavelength range. The performance and capability of JANUS fulfils all requirements for imaging the variety of different targets JUICE will investigate, including the icy satellites, Io, small inner and irregular moons, the rings and Jupiter itself. JUICE’s orbital trajectory in the Jupiter system will allow icy Galilean satellites observations from afar to closest approaches of a few hundred kilometres, resulting in spatial sampling from km/pixel down to 3 m/pixel respectively. All other targets will be observed from a distance &gt; several $10^{5}\text{ km}$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mtext> km</mml:mtext> </mml:math> , i.e. spatial sampling above several km/pixel. Thirteen bandpass filters provide good spectral coverage with bandwidths from several tens of nm down to 10 nm. The spectral resolution of JANUS will provide unprecedented characterization of endogenic and exogenic geological processes that shaped the icy satellites surfaces, enable monitoring of volcanic activity on Io, and enable investigation of the physical and dynamical properties of small satellites and rings. The dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere will be characterised over more than three years at different altitudes thanks to the ad-hoc selected filters. This paper briefly summarizes the science objectives of JANUS and describes in some detail the instrument architecture, its design, performances and observational capabilities. Although specific aspects, like e.g. data calibration, will be covered in future papers, this work is aimed at offering a general reference to the science enabled by JANUS and the design and capabilities of the instrument.

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Journal
Space Science Reviews
Published
2025-03-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-025-01158-6
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Astro and Planetary Science
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.93

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article

The JANUS (Jovis Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) VIS-NIR Multi-Band Imager for the JUICE Mission

Giacomo Colombatti, A. J. Coates, L. Marinangeli, Lorenzo Francesco Livi et al.
6 citations
Space Science Reviews
Astro and Planetary Science
6.93
article

The JANUS (Jovis Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) VIS-NIR Multi-Band Imager for the JUICE Mission

Giacomo Colombatti, A. J. Coates, L. Marinangeli, Lorenzo Francesco Livi, P. Borin, Jaime Jiménez-Ortega, Matteo Munari, Ernst Hauber, Amy A. Simon, Alessandro Dattolo, V. Mennella, Luigi Ferranti, Elena Martellato, Livio Agostini, H. Michalik, D. Grassi, C. Tubiana, Ganna Portyankina, Xavier Llamas, Frank Postberg, D. A. Williams, Emanuele Simioni, Belinda Wendler, O. Prieto‐Ballesteros, Andrea Turella, Lorenza Giacomini, Francesco Sarti, Alice Lucchetti, Daniela Tirsch, R. M. C. Lopes, Ivano Bertini, Manfredo Massironi, Konstantin D. Stefanov, M. Zusi, Alfredo Colosimo, T. Roatsch, Chiaki Crews, Riccardo Pozzobon, S. Fornasier, O. Groussin, L. Guzzetta, Sebastiano Chiodini, F. Tosi, Matthew R. Soman, A. Rotundi, F. Marzari, S. Mottola, Davide Greggio, C. Popa, A. Koncz, R. Hueso, S. Mariel Ferrari, Alessio Aboudan, M. Herranz, R. Politi, Elke Kersten, Jürgen Schmidt, Manish R. Patel, J. Haruyama, Giuseppe Sindoni, F. Trauthan, V. Lainey, S. Marchi, S. Elgner, G. Cremonese, H. Michaelis, I. Martinez-Navajas, P. Palumbo, G. Di Achille, Flavio Esposito, Vincenzo Della Corte, S. Debei, L. Ledeit, Nicole Schmitz, Luca Penasa, Friederike Wolff, Daigo Shoji, Björn Fiethe, Mikiya Sato, G. Noci, L. M. Lara, R. Mugnuolo, A. García-Segura, Richard Schroedter, H. Hoffmann, H. Hiesinger, A. Lichopoj, Valentina Galluzzi, Frank Preusker, F. Poulet, Andrew D. Holland, E. Mazzotta Epifani, M. Vincendon, Stubbe Faurschou Hviid, K. Stephan, A. Coustenis, Cristina Re, J. F. Bell, M. Pajola, T. Kenkmann, N. M. Schneider, M. R. Balme, T. Denk, Demetrio Magrin, Yoav Yosef Yair, M. Amoroso, Thomas Behnke, M. T. Capria, Pietro Schipani, Riccardo Paolinetti, Thomas Bilotta, O. Aharonson, Giuseppe Mitri, G. H. Jones, Massimiliano Bartolomei, N. Schmedemann, Klaus‐Dieter Matz, A. Galeotti, F. Álvarez, Yu Takahashi, Jose Maria Castro, C. Bettanini, K. Gwinner, R. Jaumann, V. Mertens, M. R. Leese, K. A. Otto, C. Murray, J. Oberst, Y. Langevin, Dennis Wendler, C. Althaus, Maria-Guglielmina Pelizzo
article en
6 citations

Abstract

Abstract The JANUS instrument (Jovis, Amorum ac Natorum Undique Scrutator) aboard the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) is a multispectral camera enabling imaging in the 380-1080 nm wavelength range. The performance and capability of JANUS fulfils all requirements for imaging the variety of different targets JUICE will investigate, including the icy satellites, Io, small inner and irregular moons, the rings and Jupiter itself. JUICE’s orbital trajectory in the Jupiter system will allow icy Galilean satellites observations from afar to closest approaches of a few hundred kilometres, resulting in spatial sampling from km/pixel down to 3 m/pixel respectively. All other targets will be observed from a distance &gt; several $10^{5}\text{ km}$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>10</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>5</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mtext> km</mml:mtext> </mml:math> , i.e. spatial sampling above several km/pixel. Thirteen bandpass filters provide good spectral coverage with bandwidths from several tens of nm down to 10 nm. The spectral resolution of JANUS will provide unprecedented characterization of endogenic and exogenic geological processes that shaped the icy satellites surfaces, enable monitoring of volcanic activity on Io, and enable investigation of the physical and dynamical properties of small satellites and rings. The dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere will be characterised over more than three years at different altitudes thanks to the ad-hoc selected filters. This paper briefly summarizes the science objectives of JANUS and describes in some detail the instrument architecture, its design, performances and observational capabilities. Although specific aspects, like e.g. data calibration, will be covered in future papers, this work is aimed at offering a general reference to the science enabled by JANUS and the design and capabilities of the instrument.

Space Science ReviewsVol. 221(3)
Southwest Research Institute (US), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Goddard Space Flight Center (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), University of Padua (IT), Reichman University (IL), University of Freiburg (DE), Queen Mary University of London (GB), University of the Basque Country (ES), Parthenope University of Naples (IT), University of Colorado Boulder (US), The Open University (GB), Université Paris Cité (FR), Hokkaido University (JP), Aix-Marseille Université (FR), University of Münster (DE), Université de Lille (FR), Université Nantes Angers Le Mans (FR), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics (IT), Astronomical Observatory of Rome (IT), Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (IT), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JP), ALBA Synchrotron (Spain) (ES), Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte (IT), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), University of Chieti-Pescara (IT), Sorbonne Université (FR), Sorbonne Paris Cité (FR), Herzliya Medical Center (IL), Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IT), Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (FR), Le Mans Université (FR), Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US), Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique (FR), Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania (IT), Collurania Teramo Observatory (IT), Centro de Astrobiología (ES), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JP), Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences (FR), International Research School of Planetary Sciences (IT), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (ES), Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova (IT), European Space Research and Technology Centre (NL), University College London (GB), Technische Universität Berlin (DE), Weizmann Institute of Science (IL), Arizona State University (US), University of Naples Federico II (IT), Freie Universität Berlin (DE), Technische Universität Braunschweig (DE), Nantes Université (FR)
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, United Kingdom Space Agency
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Astro and Planetary Science
6.93
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