Portal:Jupiter/Image/9
At left, Photograph of Jupiter's enormous Great Red Spot in 1879 from "A History of Astronomy in the 19th Century". Credit: Agnes Clerk and NASA.
The Great Red Spot (GRS) is a persistent anticyclonic storm, 22° south of Jupiter's equator, which has lasted for at least 194 years and possibly longer than 359 years.[1][2] The storm is large enough to be visible through Earth-based telescopes. Its dimensions are 24–40,000 km west–to–east and 12–14,000 km south–to–north. The spot is large enough to contain two or three planets the size of Earth. At the start of 2004, the Great Red Spot had approximately half the longitudinal extent it had a century ago, when it was 40,000 km in diameter. The Great Red Spot's latitude has been stable for the duration of good observational records, typically varying by about a degree.
References edit
- ↑ Staff (2007). Jupiter Data Sheet – SPACE.com. Imaginova. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/jupiter-ez.html. Retrieved 2008-06-03.
- ↑ Anonymous (August 10, 2000). The Solar System – The Planet Jupiter – The Great Red Spot. Dept. Physics & Astronomy – University of Tennessee. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/jupiter/redspot.html. Retrieved 2008-06-03.