Artist's impression of Ulysses swinging by Jupiter (D. Hardy).

Ulysses arrived at Jupiter 16 months after departing from Earth, having travelled nearly 1 billion kilometers. Closest approach to the planet occurred at 12:02 UT on 8 February, 1992. The primary aim of the flyby was to place the spacecraft in its final heliocentric out-of-ecliptic orbit with a minimum of risk to the onboard systems and scientific payload. Scientific investigations at Jupiter are a secondary objective of the mission. Nevertheless, the opportunity to study Jupiter's magnetosphere was exploited to the greatest extent possible. The results exceeded all expectations of the scientists involved.