The Great Red Spot, Jupiter's largest storm, has existed for nearly 200 years

Watch a simulated flight through Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Since its discovery over 350 years ago, the anticyclonic storm—with a high-pressure center and flows opposite to the low-pressure system underneath it—has fascinated astronomers due to its size, which is larger than Earth's, and its prominent features, including winds that surpass 250 miles per hour.

Violent storms and crushing pressure await those inside Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

As seen from space, Jupiter’s most striking feature is an anticyclone 30% larger than Earth, with winds twice the speed of Category 5 hurricanes. The descent into the storm brings enough pressure to strip atoms of their electrons.

Juno has revealed Jupiter’s polar cyclones, complex atmosphere, and diffuse core

The continent-sized cyclones at Jupiter’s poles generate strong winds and ammonia-laden storms. The spacecraft has also collected data on Jupiter’s unique magnetic field, which resembles a blend of Earth’s and Uranus/Neptune's.

Everything you need to know about Jupiter, the gas giant

NASA introduces you to the fifth planet from the sun, the gas giant Jupiter. When it comes to our solar system, Jupiter is the biggest kid on the block. Named after the king of the Ancient Roman gods, Jupiter is a planet of storms and chaos, most famously in its Great Red Spot, a hurricane larger than the earth itself.

Images of Jupiter in unprecedented detail

Jupiter has never seemed closer and clearer than it does in these images gathered by the James Webb Telescope. Behold beautiful auroras, hazy clouds, and more. This may not be the classic image of Jupiter (and its stormy Great Red Spot) you're used to, but it tells scientist, and us, more about the largest planet in our solar system.

When it formed 4.5 billion years ago, Jupiter was twice its current size

Its original size was deduced from the orbits of its moons, Amalthea and Thebe. The planet's magnetic field was also 50 times stronger than today, or 400 times stronger than Earth's.

Io, Jupiter’s moon, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system

The innermost and third-largest of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons, Io’s volcanic activity is driven by tidal heating from Jupiter’s gravitational pull. Its atmosphere is very thin and primarily composed of sulfur dioxide, and its volcanic eruptions can exceed 1,000°C.

Why aren’t there hurricanes in Europe?

Despite their proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the effects of the subtropical jet stream make tropical storms and hurricanes unlikely to reach Europe at full strength. Their remnants, however, can combine with other weather systems to create powerful storms.

According to the Grand Tack model, Saturn stopped Jupiter's inward migration

The model suggests Jupiter migrated inward early in its formation and cleared debris from the inner orbits of terrestrial planets. Saturn's gravitational pull saved what was left of the inner solar system to form Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.

Trade winds blow from east to west due to the Coriolis Effect

Warm air rises near the equator while cooler air sinks near the poles, creating circulation patterns that curve due to Earth's rotation. At the equator, doldrums—calm regions of no wind—build warm, moist air, creating storms.

Hurricanes, which rely on air consistently spinning in the same direction, cannot cross the equator because air curves in opposite directions north and south of it.

As of 2025, the world's largest tropical cyclone spanned half the continental US

Typhoon Tip traveled across the western Pacific Ocean in 1979, achieving winds of 300 kilometers per hour. Though it weakened significantly before making landfall in Japan, its rainfall produced over 600 mudslides and killed 42 people.

Tidally locked exoplanets experience extreme atmospheric temperatures

On worlds like WASP 76b, which orbits its host star approximately 3% the Earth-sun distance, temperatures on its day side can vaporize iron. Winds more than 14 times the speed of sound blow this material to its night side, where it condenses and falls as liquid metal.

Could the world's largest solar storm happen again?

In 1859, the world witnessed the most intense solar storm in recorded history. The electromagnetic deluge of dust and gas lit up the night sky and sparked fires, disrupting Earth's magnetic field and putting on a show for the millions. If a storm with a similar intensity today occurred, scientists believe it would be catastrophic for our communications systems. Learn what would happen if the Carrington Event happened again here.

Average hurricane intensity, not frequency, has increased over the past century

While the total number of tropical cyclones globally each year has not significantly shifted since 1920, a greater proportion of them are major, defined as category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The increased energy present in a warmer climate may be contributing to higher intensification rates.

Observations of Jupiter's moons first demonstrated that light was not instantaneous

In 1676, Danish astronomer Ole Rømer noticed that eclipses of the moons occurred several minutes later when Earth and Jupiter were farther apart, reasoning that light needed more time to travel the greater distance. Lacking knowledge of Earth's orbital diameter, he was unable to calculate the speed of light.

If the Earth stopped spinning, 85% of the world's population would experience supersonic winds

The planet's equator moves about 470 meters per second—over 1,000 miles per hour—and air there would continue moving at this speed for several minutes if the ground stopped rotating. These conditions would cause tsunamis, global storms, and fling debris fast enough to destroy nearly all human-made structures.

An overview of Venus, from its retrograde rotation to its volcanic surface

Boasting over 1,600 major volcanoes—more than any other planet in the solar system—Venus rotates in the opposite direction as Earth, potentially due to a major collision during its formation that flipped the planet upside-down. The planet's rotation also makes days on Venus last longer than its entire year.

The largest river on Earth is actually in the sky

High above the canopy of the Amazon rainforest drifts an airborne river fed by the towering trees below. The trees pull water from their roots into their trunks, pushing any excess water out of their leaves and into the atmosphere as vapor. Watch this six-minute video to learn how.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

Comets can be categorized based on their orbital period

Short-period comets orbit around the sun once every 200 years or less and are made up of Jupiter-family (less than 20 years) and Halley-type (between 20 and 200 years) comet subgroups. Long-period comets have orbits greater than 200 years, while exocomets originate in solar systems outside our own.

TON 618, the largest black hole ever detected, has the mass of 66 billion suns

The supermassive black hole is 18 billion light-years away and emits radiation with the brightness of 100 trillion stars. It is so massive that light would take an entire week to travel from its edge to its center.

Earth’s tilt and orbit cause the sun to create a figure-eight pattern

The shape—called an analemma—can be obtained by photographing the sun from the same location and time daily for a year. The Earth's eccentricity created the analemma's width, and its tilt shifts the sun's height in the sky over the seasons.

The International Space Station is slowly falling due to atmospheric drag

To stay in orbit, the largest human-made object in space needs periodic rocket boosts to maintain its orbital speed and height. Its solar panels collect enough energy to power over 60 average US homes each year.

In Doppler radar imaging, a 'hook echo' helps identify a tornado-producing thunderstorm

Typically found in the right-rear part of a storm relative to its motion, the "hook" is the hallmark of a mesocyclone—a large, rotating updraft of air—within supercells, the most powerful thunderstorms. While tornadoes are known to develop within mesocyclones, they can also be detected by storm spotters trained to recognize tornado conditions in their communities.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

The Southern Ocean's powerful circular current isolates organisms in its environment

The spiralling current churns up nutrients across the frigid waters, leading to the evolution of fantastical organisms, including century-old starfish and colossal squid, and unique adaptations, including the icefish's clear blood and organic antifreeze, over the past 30 million years.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

Poison ivy will likely become both larger and more resilient due to climate change.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

Explore the history, structure, and species of Australia's Great Barrier Reef with this interactive journey narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is independent of Iran's regular army and is one of the most powerful and influential military-political organizations in the Middle East.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.