Fact Sheet
Great Red Spot
§/d?s Great Red Spot towers up to 30 miles (50 km) above the surrounding clouds in this false-color infrared image from the Galileo spacecraft. Red and white represent the tallest clouds, while black and dark blue represent the lowest. Large enough to swallow two Earths, the Great Red Spot is a hurricane-like storm that has been observed from Earth for more than 300 years. Galileo found that winds around the spot's rim are moving counterclockwise at up to 250 miles per hour (400 kph). Unlike Earth, where winds are driven by heat from the Sun, winds on Jupiter appear to be driven by heat from within the planet itself. Heat may be carried upward through thunderstorms, which are seen as small white spots above and to the right of the Great Red Spot. (NASA)
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