Now that the Juno spacecraft is settled in orbit around Jupiter, the real work is about to begin. Juno will fly closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft, skipping over cloud tops and peering deep inside to uncover clues about the giant planet’s formation. Scientists hope that understanding how Jupiter formed can help explain how…

Braving intense radiation, a NASA spacecraft reached Jupiter on Monday after a five-year voyage to begin exploring the king of the planets. Ground controllers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin erupted in applause when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft beamed home news that it was circling Jupiter’s poles. The arrival at Jupiter was…

Soaring over Jupiter’s poles, a NASA spacecraft arrived at the solar system’s largest planet on a mission to peek behind the cloud tops. The final leg of the five-year voyage ended Monday when the solar-powered Juno spacecraft fired its main rocket engine and gracefully slipped into orbit around Jupiter. Mission controllers celebrated when Juno sent…

Jupiter takes center stage with the arrival next week of a NASA spacecraft. The solar-powered Juno spacecraft is on the final leg of a five-year, 1.8 billion-mile trip to the biggest planet in the solar system. As Juno approaches Jupiter late Monday, it will fire its main rocket engine to slow down and slip into…