This amazing image shows Jupiter's Great Red Spot in unprecedented detail.

Collated from data gathered over 30 years ago, the recently completed image has undergone digital enhancement.

Now it is possible to clearly see the Great Red Spot, a hurricane twice the size of Earth that has been raging for longer than telescopes have been able to view it.

Red Spot
© NASA / JPLJupiter's Great Red Spot: The hurricane is twice the size of Earth and has been raging for longer than telescopes have been able to view it. This digitally enhanced image was collated from data sent back by Voyager 1 in 1979.
The image data was taken by Voyager 1 during a fly-by in 1979.

Nasa launched Voyager 1 in 1977 and, 34 years later, it is currently making its way towards the outer edges of our solar system.

It passed Jupiter early on during its epic journey, on the morning of March 4, 1979, when it spent 36minutes imaging the planet from 1.85million kilometres away.

Voyager 1, needless to say, is the most distant man-made object in the universe and is currently 117 AU from Earth. One AU is the distance from Earth to the sun.

Red Spot_1
© NASANasa last year released this infrared image showing how the Great Red Spot is a turbulent region. The darker the colour, the colder the area.
Red Spot_2
© ESOAs it is: This visible light image of shows how the naked eye would view the region.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot has fascinated astronomers since the 19th century.

It lies 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator and has been known to drift to the left and right.

The Red Spot has changed in size over the years. A century ago it measured 25,000miles across but it is now about half that.

However, it remains incredibly stable despite turbulence, upheavals and close encounters with other anticyclones, suggesting it won't disappear any time soon.