Fact Sheet
Spotty Planet
Three red storms, each as big as a planet, spin through the atmosphere of Jupiter in this 2008 image from Hubble Space Telescope. The largest, at right, is the Great Red Spot, and may have been raging for at least four centuries. Red Spot Junior, at lower left, formed a few years ago when several smaller white storms merged. And the smallest red spot, at far left, formed just two years ago. The spots may get their color from a reaction between sunlight and chemicals dredged from deep within Jupiter's atmosphere. [NASA/ESA/M. Wong, I. de Pater (UC Berkeley), et al.]
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