The auroras were photographed during a series of Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph far-ultraviolet-light observations taking place as NASA’s Juno spacecraft approaches and enters into orbit around Jupiter.NASA, ESA, and J. Nichols /University of Leicester

Since NASA’s Juno mission began orbiting Jupiter and sending data back to Earth last July, Juno scientists have all sounded pretty alike: They are very excited, and very confused.

“Almost nothing is as we anticipated,” Juno’s principal investigator Scott Bolton told WIRED in May. “But it’s exciting that Jupiter is so different than we assumed.”

“The data’s telling us our ideas are all wrong,” says Randy Gladstone, lead investigator of Juno’s ultraviolet spectrograph. “But that’s fun.”

“It’s a real mystery,” says Barry Mauk, lead investigator of Juno’s Jupiter energetic particle detector instrument (yes, they call it Jedi). “It’s thrilling to be part of this mission.”

What exactly is so baffling and invigorating about Jupiter? The simple answer is everything: Juno’s data has defied conventional scientific wisdom with everything from the color of its poles to the