NASA's Juno spacecraft on Monday began its attempt to orbit Jupiter, the largest and most massive planet in the solar system, the US space agency announced.

The unmanned solar-powered observatory began firing its main engine to slow down enough to be captured into Jupiter's orbit at 11:18 pm (0318 GMT), said officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

It will be 35 minutes before NASA learns whether the maneuver was successful.