A Nasa spacecraft on a mission to Jupiter has made a record-breaking approach to the giant planet, orbiting closer than any man-made object before it.

Juno - which was launched five years ago and has travelled 1.8 billion miles from Earth - soared 2,500 miles above the planet's swirling cloud tops at 130,000 mph.

Unique images, including the highest resolution picture ever obtained from Jupiter's clouds, and a wealth of scientific data will be collected from the approach, mission controllers at the American space agency said.

The spacecraft is believed to have reached its closest point at 1.51pm GMT having entered the planet's orbit on July 4.