NASA's Juno spacecraft has completed its first flyby around Jupiter with its instruments switched on - and it sent us back the very first up close images of the gas giant's north pole. The high-resolution photos are stunning, and are already revealing storms and weather activity that scientists had never seen before.

During the flyby, which was completed on August 27th, the probe came about 2,500 miles above the planet, with its eight science instruments switched on. It took one and a half days to download all the data Juno sent back from its 6-hour transit from Jupiter's north pole to the south pole.

"First glimpse of Jupiter's north pole …

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For a government agency, NASA has a notably off-color sense of humor. Whether they're making horrifying youth recruitment music videos, inviting boy bands on a field trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, releasing film parody mission posters, or rifling through the International Space Stations costume closet on an idle Halloween's eve, NASA is always looking for a punchline. Often, the punchline is weird.

NASA's latest knee-slapper incorporates Roman mythology, astronomy naming conventions, and that scene in every rom-com in which someone comes home unexpectedly and sees their spouse knocking boots with a random babe. The joke has be …

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NASA's Juno spacecraft has successfully entered Jupiter's orbit, bringing it closer to the planet than any probe has come so far. The vehicle reached the gas giant's north pole this evening, and NASA received confirmation that the vehicle had turned on its main engine at 11:18PM ET. The engine burned for 35 minutes, helping to slow the spacecraft down enough so that it was captured by Jupiter's gravitational pull. NASA confirmed that the burn was successful at around 11:53PM ET and that Juno was in its intended 53-day orbit.

"NASA did it again," Scott Bolton, Juno's principal investigator, said at a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion …

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NASA's Juno spacecraft is about to make a terrifying plunge into orbit around Jupiter later tonight - one that involves passing through a terrifying hellscape of powerful radiation. Jupiter's massive magnetic field, known as its magnetosphere, traps charged particles around the planet, creating huge radiation belts that can fry spacecraft that pass by. These high-energy particles get accelerated to near the speed of light and can rip through an unprepared vehicle, shredding its inner atoms apart.

Sounds like a pretty scary place, right? Well if that wasn't nightmarish enough, it turns out there's another major hazard facing Juno on its way …

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NASA has released the last image of Jupiter from the agency's Juno spacecraft before it attempts to enter the planet's orbit tonight. The color image was taken on June 29th, with Juno 3.3 million miles away from the gas planet. Juno has now powered down its instruments to avoid any issues during orbit insertion.

If all goes as planned Juno will slow down by 1,200 miles per hour using its main engine and enter a 53-day orbit of Jupiter right before midnight tonight. Given how far away Juno is from Earth, everything must go according to plan, as it takes nearly an hour for Juno to receive any new directives from NASA, or to send notice of any …

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Today is one of celebration for NASA: not only is it Independence Day, but it's also the day that the agency's Juno spacecraft puts itself into orbit around Jupiter. After launching in August 2011, the vehicle has been traveling to the gas giant for the last five years and will finally reach its destination later this evening. Once it arrives, the spacecraft will turn on its main engine for 35 minutes to slow itself down by 1,200 miles per hour. If all goes well, the burn will put Juno into a 53-day orbit around the planet.

Juno has only one opportunity to get into Jupiter's orbit

NASA won't really be celebrating until that engine burn is su …

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NASA's Juno spacecraft has officially crossed the barrier over into Jupiter's magnetosphere, the powerful magnetic field that extends millions of miles around the planet. Within this magnetosphere, particles move based on what's going on inside Jupiter. NASA believes Juno entered this region of space between June 24th and 25th. Now, the vehicle is continuing even further into the field and is slated to arrive at Jupiter on July 4th, when it will insert itself into the planet's orbit. It will allow the spacecraft to study the gas giant in more detail than ever before.

Jupiter's magnetic field is considered to be the largest structure in our S …

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NASA is celebrating Independence Day this year by putting a spacecraft into orbit around Jupiter. The space agency's Juno mission is slated to arrive at the massive planet on the night of July 4th, after having traveled across more than 1.7 billion miles of space over the past five years. Once Juno arrives, the probe's main engine will fire, slowing the spacecraft down and placing it into orbit around Jupiter. It's an important event for the mission, especially since NASA has only one shot at getting it right. If Juno flies past Jupiter, the mission will be blown.

Juno will eventually fly closer to the gas giant than any other spacecraft bef …

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