The Great Red Spot is a massive storm with a counter-clockwise rotation located on Jupiter, approximately 22° south of the equator, and has been ongoing for 340 years. This storm is so large that it can be seen from Earth through a telescope.
The Great Red Spot on Jupiter can contain three Earths inside.
The image on the right was taken by Voyager 1 on February 25, 1979, when the spacecraft flew by Jupiter at a distance of 9.2 million kilometers. Cloud details as small as 160 kilometers can be observed in the image. The colorful, wavy regions to the left of the Great Red Spot are areas of complex wave movements in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The size of this storm can be compared to a smaller white storm located just below it, which has a diameter comparable to that of Earth. The Great Red Spot measures approximately 24,000 to 40,000 kilometers in length and about 12,000 to 14,000 kilometers in width, enough to contain three Earths within.
If it were to appear on Earth, the Great Red Spot would cover 40% of the planet’s surface and extend high into space with destructive winds reaching 680 km/h.
