Stunningly detailed images of the swirling gas clouds covering Jupiter have been captured by scientists.

The new images of the surface of the Solar System's largest planet were captured by a NASA spacecraft.

The stunning detail was captured by the JunoCam camera on NASA's Juno orbiter spacecraft, which is specifically designed to take pictures of the planet's polar regions.

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The mission is the first one to capture the polar regions, showing the gas giant from a fresh perspective.

Jupiter's beautiful swirling cloud formation was processed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Software engineer Kevin M. Gill.

The spacecraft launched on August 5, 2011 and entered a polar orbit of the planet in July, 2016 and will search for clues about how the planet formed.

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The cloud-shrouded planet is two-and-a-half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined and may not even have a surface that humans could stand on.

The photos show Jupiter's southern latitudes and were captured on February 25 and February 21.

For the first time, JunoCam will provide close-up photos of Jupiter's poles, as well as other Points of Interest selected by the public.