A beautiful image of Jupiter taken by the NASA Hubble telescope has captured the formation of an almighty storm in the planet's northern hemisphere.
NASA says the storm is a 'bright, white, stretched-out storm moving at 560 kilometers per hour' at mid-northern latitudes.
Storms in this region are very common but this one appears different, as it has more structure and could be forming into a permanent feature.
'Researchers speculate this may be the beginning of a longer-lasting northern hemisphere spot, perhaps to rival the legendary Great Red Spot that dominates the southern hemisphere,' NASA says in a statement.
Left of the image is Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter which is believed may harbour microbial life in its liquid oceans. Right of the image is the long white storm which NASA believes may one day rival the Great Red Spot in size
Jupiter is the biggest planet in the solar system, and it is believed the gas giant's creation was crucial in allowing Earth, and life, to form.
The new image was taken when Jupiter was 405 million miles (653 million kilometers) from Earth and also captures the planet's icy moon, Europa.
Europa is one of the most promising locations within the Solar System for alien life, as it has a liquid ocean lurking beneath its frozen crust.
NASA has even proposed a madcap scheme to use steam-powered robots to explore the world and look for signs of microbial life.
The bots, called SPARROW, would run on steam from ice that was collected by mining the surfaces of the moons they explore - rather than 'dirty' rocket fuel.
Hubble focused on Jupiter on August 25 and took two images, one using visible wavelengths of light to create a classical look at Jupiter, and another which combined various wavelengths, including ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared.
Hubble focused on Jupiter on August 25 and took two images, one using visible wavelengths of light to create a classical look at Jupiter (left), and another which combined various wavelengths, including ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared (right)
This captures more rays of light emitting from Jupiter which are invisible to the human eye and make the planet look like a blue-purple gobstopper.
Both images reveal the Great Red Spot, Jupiter's most iconic feature, is still shrinking in size, but that the rate of contraction is slowing down.
'Hubble shows that the Great Red Spot, rolling counterclockwise in the planet's southern hemisphere, is ploughing into the clouds ahead of it, forming a cascade of white and beige ribbons,' NASA writes.
'The Great Red Spot is currently an exceptionally rich red colour, with its core and outermost band appearing deeper red.'
However, Hubble reveals it is now growing more crimson again as the storms within continue to rage.