August 6, 1999
It is a hurricane twice the size of the
Earth.
It has been raging at least as long as
telescopes could see it,
and shows no signs of slowing. It is Jupiter's Great Red Spot,
the largest swirling storm system in the
Solar System.
Like most astronomical phenomena, the
Great Red Spot
was neither predicted nor immediately
understood after its discovery.
Still today, details of how and why the
Great Red Spot changes its shape, size, and color
remain mysterious.
A better understanding of the
weather on Jupiter may help contribute to the better understanding of weather here on Earth.
In the pictures on the left, the Hubble Space Telescope has captured
Jupiter's Great Red Spot in various states over the past several years.