Jupiter’s Little Red Spot takes centre stage in stunning pictures from Nasa’s Juno probe
Beautiful swirls are actually a terrifying mega storm with winds circling at up to 384mph
THESE beautiful swirls on Jupiter hide a terrifying secret.
They belong to a mega-storm where winds of up to 384mph batter the planet's surface.
The incredible pictures were published by Nasa this week.
They were taken by the JunoCam imager on Nasa's Juno spacecraft on December 11, 2016 as the £800million probe whizzed 10,300 miles above Jupiter's cloud tops.
Jupiter has one of the most turbulent weather systems in the universe.
The little red spot you can see in the pictures is believed to be the largest anticyclone in our solar system, and scientists have been studying it for 23 years.
An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon where a large-scale circulation of winds surround a central region of high atmospheric pressure.
They rotate clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and counterclockwise in the southern hemisphere.
This Little Red Spot shows very little colour, just a pale brown smudge in the centre.
Crackpot stargazers have questioned whether the huge swirl belongs to an alien race.
Some claimed Nasa's pictures show an alien mothership is lurking within the storm.
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