The Juno satellite, which left Earth five years ago, had to fire a rocket engine to slow its approach to the planet and get caught by its gravity.
A sequence of tones transmitted from the spacecraft confirmed the braking manoeuvre had gone as planned.
Receipt of the radio messages prompted wild cheering at Nasa`s mission control in Pasadena, California.
"All stations on Juno co-ord, we have the tone for burn cut-off on Delta B," Juno Mission Control had announced. "Roger Juno, welcome to Jupiter."
Scientists plan to use the spacecraft to sense the planet`s deep interior. They think the structure and the chemistry of its insides hold clues to how this giant world formed some four-and-a-half-billion years ago.
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