Perhaps staring at this photo of a storm on Jupiter will help us all relax after a hard week
Please just take a minute and stare at this storm on Jupiter. It really is quite relaxing.
The cyclone has been swirling on the huge planet since at least 1993, but NASA's Juno spacecraft just got a new look at the storm, known as the North North Temperate Little Red Spot 1, according to the space agency.
The storm, which is an "anti-cyclone," is about 3,700 miles across.
"An anticyclone is a weather phenomenon where winds around the storm flow in the direction opposite to that of the flow around a region of low pressure," NASA said in a statement. "It is the third largest anticyclonic oval on the planet."
This new photo of the Little Red Spot was taken on July 10 when Juno was flying about 7,111 miles miles from the tops of the world's clouds.
Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran — two prolific citizen scientists known for their beautifully processed photos — used the raw Juno photos to produce this new image rendering the storm as some kind of watercolor masterpiece.
The photo really brings out the brightly colored, shimmering clouds surrounding the red center of the storm. Seriously. Take a wider look:
Juno has been exploring Jupiter since it arrived at the gas giant in July 2016, but it took a while to get there.
In total, the spacecraft was flying through the solar system for about five years years after its 2011 launch before making it to its target. But all that time was worth the wait.
Since it started exploring Jupiter from close range, Juno has given scientists a closer-than-ever look at the world's clouds, Great Red Spot, and auroras.
The spacecraft will continue its journey with Jupiter until it eventually crashes into the planet's thick atmosphere, bringing an end to its mission in 2018.
Miriam Kramer worked as a staff writer for Space.com for about 2.5 years before joining Mashable to cover all things outer space. She took a ride in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight and watched rockets launch to space from places around the United States. Miriam received her Master's degree in science, health and environmental reporting from New York University in 2012, and she originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee. Follow Miriam on Twitter at @mirikramer.
