Europe's Jupiter-bound Juice spacecraft photographed Earth and the moon as it whipped past our home planet on Monday, stealing energy to fly the long trip.

During its flyby, the European Space Agency's probe came within 5,370 miles of Earth, jetting over the Indian Ocean. It made its closest approach at 7:45 a.m. ET. One of its monitoring cameras captured Africa, and its navigation camera snapped Madagascar and the moon.

Earth's gravity bent the spacecraft's trajectory by 20 degrees and sped it up by about 7,800 mph. Juice, short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, burned little fuel to get that boost, officials said.

The space flyby marked the mission's second Earth pop-in and ticked off yet another gravity assist to fling the spacecraft onward.

The series of maneuvers began in 2024 with a combined moon-and-Earth flyby, and it also included a pass by Venus in 2025. Juice will return for a third and final Earth flyby in Jan. 2029, which should set it on its final course to Jupiter. It should arrive at the gas giant in 2031.

"We used only a small amount of the propellant reserved for this flyby," said Angela Dietz, Juice's spacecraft operations manager, in a statement. "This gives us more to use at Jupiter to carry out observations of the planet's icy moons."

Juice's two monitoring cameras kept shooting photos throughout the visit, taking their final shots on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the navigation camera turned toward the edge of the moon. Those frames are more than just stunning pictures; they are a test of a new method for pinpointing the spacecraft's position, a skill Juice will need to steer around Jupiter's moons. 

Sourxce: mashable