Scientists finally have a clearer picture of the gas giant’s intense storms A violent, swirling storm on Jupiter captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft Enhanced image by Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran based on images provided courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS under CC BY-NC-SA Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, has massive storms that match its size. These storms—some of which can last centuries—unleash powerful bolts of lightning. But understanding the full strength of these strikes has been difficult because of the planet’s hefty clouds. Now, thanks to data from NASA’s  Juno  spacecraft and a fortuitous lull in some storms, scientists have calculated that Jupiter regularly sees lightning flashes that pack 100 times the energetic punch of those on Earth—and potentially even stronger. The findings, published March 20 in the journal  AGU Advances , can help scientists better understand the giant planet’s storms.…