The Sun That Never Sets on Juno's Instruments

On August 5, 2011, NASA launched the Juno spacecraft on a five-year journey to Jupiter. When it finally slipped into orbit, scientists discovered something remarkable about the gas giant's polar regions: auroras so powerful they dwarfed anything seen on Earth, fueled by a magnetic field twenty thousand times stronger than our own. But here is what captivated the research team most — Jupiter's magnetosphere never fluctuates the way Earth's does. While our magnetic field drifts, weakens, and shifts its poles over centuries, Jupiter's field holds steady with an almost stubborn constancy.

James, the brother of Jesus, reached for a similar image when he wrote that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, "with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James knew his audience lived under a sun that rose and set, under a moon that waxed and waned. They understood shadows. They knew what it felt like when the light disappeared.

So James pointed them higher — past the sun, past the stars, to the One who generates all light and never dims. The Almighty does not drift. His generosity does not wane like a crescent moon. His goodness does not shift with the seasons or flicker like a lamp running low on oil.

Every sunrise you witness is secondhand light from a star that will eventually burn out. But the gifts of God stream from a source that has never known a single moment of darkness.