Jupiter's Great Red Spot Date: 03.01.1979 As Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter, it captured this photo of the Great Red Spot.
The Great Red Spot is an anti-cyclonic (high- pressure) storm on Jupiter that can be likened to the worst hurricanes on Earth. An ancient storm, it is so large that three Earths could fit inside it.
This photo, and others of Jupiter, allowed scientists to see different colors in clouds around the Great Red Spot which imply that the clouds swirl around the spot (going counter-clockwise) at varying altitudes. The Great Red Spot had been observed from Earth for hundreds of years, yet never before with this clarity and closeness (objects as small as six hundred kilometers can be seen).
The Voyager mission has been managed by NASA's Office of Space Science and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
