Juno's journey began with its launch on August 5, 2011. It took the probe nearly five years to reach orbit around Jupiter.
Radiation fields around Jupiter are so intense that they can damage electronics, so NASA set Juno on a course to spend very little time close to the planet.
Juno pulls off a two-hour flyby, called a perijove, once every 53.5 days — the length of its wild orbit around Jupiter.
NASA was supposed to shrink Juno's orbits to once every two weeks, but a faulty engine valve foiled that maneuver.
Strafing the planet minimizes radiation damage yet allows unprecedented views like this one. In this image, a solitary and unusually bright cloud is caught in a maelstrom of storms.
People who process the image each have a preferred style. Some prefer to dial back the contrast, giving Jupiter a softer look...
Researchers are using Juno data to learn about the formation and evolution of Jupiter's cloud features, which are predominantly made of hydrogen and helium.
The same goes for the Great Red Spot, which is shrinking daily — and may vanish within a decade or two.
Source: Business Insider
