Juno beams back first image from Jupiter - what's to come is exciting!

Juno will skim Jupiter's clouds, taking high resolution images.

Juno has arrived at Jupiter and the first images have been beamed back to Earth. The images are in low resolution and scientists say high resolution images are a few weeks away.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - The Juno spacecraft has arrived at Jupiter. The probe arrived on July 4, and since then scientists have been powering on its instruments.

Among those instruments is the camera that will capture high resolution images of Jupiter. Those pictures will be relative close ups, captured 3,100 miles above the planet's clouds.

For now, the first images are in low resolution, captured as Juno closed on Jupiter. They're worth looking at, but they are far from the main attraction. Millions are waiting with bated breath to see Jupiter from near-cloud-top level.

Those images will not come for about six weeks, after the probe brakes again and descends further.

Juno took a long, looping path to Jupiter because its rocket booster was not powerful enough to get the probe there directly. Instead, Juno orbited the Sun, and swung past the Earth for a gravity assist to Jupiter. Now the probe must slow down even further to get into the low orbit needed for its science.

Cruising over the Jovian cloud-tops, Juno will search for water vapor, map magnetic fields, study auorae and more. All the while it will snap dramatic close up pictures of Jupiter's clouds and storms. Scientists expect to see more detail than ever before. Such detail will help them understand Jupiter better.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and may have been the first to form. It has dozens of moons, some of which could harbor life. Those moons will be studied in detail with later missions.

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