NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals a storm brewing over Jupiter

NASA unveiled the first close-up views of Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The Red Spot is a 10,000-mile-wide anticyclone. It is considered the solar system's most powerful storm. NASA said the Spot's winds have been swirling for more than 150 years.

On Feb. 7, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured an image of a swirling storm on Jupiter during its 11th flyby.

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NASA shared a color-enhanced version of the "close-up view of a storm with bright cloud tops in the northern hemisphere of Jupiter" on Friday.

The photo was processed and adjusted by citizen scientists Matt Brealey and Gustavo B C using data from the JunoCam imager.

The Juno mission, which launched in August 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, has already revealed much about the gas planet, its atmosphere and interior structure through high-precision radio science and infrared technologies. Scientists believe further research will help them better understand how the planet — and the solar system at large — formed and evolved.

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Recent findings published in the journal Nature showed the massive cyclones surrounding Jupiter's north and south poles are "unlike anything else encountered in our solar system," NASA wrote in a March 7 news release.

Composite infrared image from Juno of clusters of massive cyclones surrounding Jupiter’s north pole.

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In fact, according to the agency, data from the Juno mission to Jupiter indicate that the atmospheric winds of the planet run deeper into its atmosphere and last even longer than similar atmospheric processes found here on Earth.

“Juno is only about one third the way through its primary mission, and already we are seeing the beginnings of a new Jupiter,” principal Juno investigator Scott Bolton said.

Read more about the Juno mission at nasa.gov.