Jupiter is no stranger to being a backdrop for science fiction tales. Perhaps one of the most recognisable modern example is in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I first watched Stanley Kubrick’s movie back in 2011. It wasn’t much later until I read Arthur C. Clark’s novel and was disappointed to learn that the planet at the centre of their mission was actually Saturn. The change to Jupiter in the movie version was only made due to technical challenges at the time with creating Saturn’s rings on screen. But the movie has been so influential that, in fact, Clarke changed the setting of the story to Jupiter in his sequel novel to be in line with the movie.

The tendency to feature Jupiter in modern fiction has lessened. The discovery (which only became widely accepted in the mid-20th century) that Jupiter was a gas giant with no solid surface has undoubtedly played a part. No more tales of astronauts or aliens on the surface of the King of Planets, and, aside from a brief scene in the 2015 sci-fi Jupiter Ascending, there hasn’t been much exploration of the Great Red Spot in written fiction or film either.

I wrote Aphelion partly in protest of this diminishing love for Jupiter. In there I offer a modern tale featuring the Red Spot in all its grandeur, where fellow Jovian enthusiasts can get briefly engulfed in its orange clouds.