News Planetary Science

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may be less than 200 years old

Historical and recent data suggest the Spot is distinct from one viewed in the 1600s and 1700s

Jupiter Red Spot

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, seen in this color-enhanced image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, is a morass of clouds wider than Earth that has been swirling for hundreds of years.

JPL-Caltech/NASA, SwRI, MSSS, Gerald Eichstädt, Seán Doran

By Carolyn Wilke

Jupiter’s signature feature — its Great Red Spot — might not be the same dark spot seen on the giant planet more than three centuries ago.