A NASA spacecraft flew by Jupiter's Great Red Spot on Monday during a science orbit, capturing the first up-close shots of the famous spot.
The Great Red Spot is a storm that's been monitored since 1830 and has appeared to be shrinking in recent years. The storm is 10,000 miles wide.
Juno, the spacecraft, collected photos of the spot.
"For generations people from all over the world and all walks of life have marveled over the Great Red Spot," said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno from the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. "Now we are finally going to see what this storm looks like up close and personal."
Juno originally launched in 2011 to explore Jupiter and study more about the planet's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere, NASA said.
So far, Juno has discovered the largest planet—Jupiter—is a "turbulent world, with an intriguingly complex interior structure, energetic polar aurora, and huge polar cyclones."
It will fly by again on Sept. 1.
