Great red spot

On Monday, NASA's Juno spacecraft came within 9,000 kilometres (5,600 miles) of one of Jupiter's most iconic features and has started to add a few close-up pics to the holiday album.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot. The Great Red Spot is a great anti-cyclonic (high pressure) storm akin to a hurricane on Earth, but it is enormous (three Earths would fit within its boundaries) and it has persisted for at least the 400 years that humans have observed it through telescopes. Since it is anti-cyclonic in Jupiter's Southern hemisphere, the rotation is counterclockwise, with a period of about 6 days. (A hurricane in Earth's Southern hemisphere rotates clockwise.)

You won’t want to miss the best pictures we’ve ever taken of this Earth-sized storm.

Why the Great Red Spot refuses to die.

Every 12 years Jupiter returns back to the point it occupied when you were born. This is called a Jupiter return and it is said to be a time of great luck.

This new Hubble Space Telescope view of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet's trademark Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter's atmosphere.

Voyager 1 image of the clouds of Jupiter to the southeast of the Great Red Spot. This is a false color image of Jupiter, with exaggerated colors to enhance...

Jupiter's Great Red Spot is one of the solar system's most mysterious landmarks. Based on what scientists understand about fluid dynamics, this massive storm – which is big enough to engulf the Earth two or three times over – should have disappeared centuries ago.

Image of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Simon

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