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2. It has found some shockingly powerful storms

Some of the most exciting images to scientists are of the atmospheric storms known as the string of pearls. These eight storms are each smaller than the famous Great Red Spot, a giant storm that has been rotating for at least 150 years, but they seem to be more dynamic, and changing faster. Over the last 30 years, their number has varied from as few as six to as many as nine. “Every time we get near Jupiter’s cloud tops, we learn new insights that help us understand this amazing giant planet,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.

3. It is looking for more than just weather

Juno — named for the mythical daughter of Saturn, consort of Jupiter, and mother of Mars — has eight scientific instruments to collect data about Jupiter’s gravity, atmosphere and electromagnetic fields and radiation, with a focus on the glowing auroras that are thought to be caused in part by charged particles being blasted out of volcanoes on Io, the closest of Jupiter’s four moons.

4. Juno has already seriously malfunctioned

The spacecraft’s orbit was supposed to be brought much shorter and closer by a planned engine burn in October, but a problem with helium valves meant those plans were scrapped. It will stay in its longer orbit until next year, when it will be deliberately sent hurtling into Jupiter’s atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and beyond that into its liquid interior, never to return.