The spacecraft was named after the first astronomer who turned a telescope skyward and transformed Jupiter from a myth-inspiring, bright point of light into a giant, turbulent world that appeared as a solar system unto itself. In the early 1600s, Galileo Galilei not only identified Jupiter as a planet, but also saw four moons orbiting it. This view is now accessible to anyone with a decent pair of binoculars, but the discovery was certainly something of significance at a time when many believed that everything in the universe orbited the Earth. As of this writing, a dizzying total of 61 moons have been discovered around Jupiter – a number which has doubled in just the past two years and still has room to grow.

Jupiter has seen a few quick flyby visits from Earthly robotic emissaries – Pioneer 10 in 1973, Pioneer 11 in 1974, Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1979, Ulysses in 1992, and Cassini in 2000 [1]. But Galileo was there to stay and carried an array of 11 scientific instruments with names to excite the hearts of scientists such as the extreme ultraviolet spectrometer and the photopolarimeter-radiometer [2]. It even toted an atmospheric probe carrying 7 more instruments. The camera aboard Galileo provided images with a resolution that is 20 to 1,000 times better than the famous photos provided by the Voyagers 1 and 2.