Jupiter's Great Red Spot Is Not Just Monstrously Wide - It Is Also Surprisingly Deep

Scientists believe Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot extends deeper into the planet's atmosphere than previously thought.

In 2019, NASA's Juno spacecraft flew by the Great Red Spot, an anticyclone huge enough to consume the Earth. Measurements from those flights are now showing significantly more data about the storm's structure than telescope images can.

According to the data, the vortex is anywhere between 186 and 310 miles deep, far beyond Jupiter's clouds.

Juno's findings were disclosed in two studies published in the journal Science on Thursday.

The planet, which is classified as a gas giant, is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium with traces of other gases.

The data provides scientists studying the solar system's largest planet, Jupiter, a planet so massive that 1,000 Earths might fit inside it, with a three-dimensional representation of its atmosphere.

Scientists used a microwave radiometer to peek beneath Jupiter's cloud tops and explore the structure of its multiple vortex storms.

According to Scott Bolton, principle investigator of NASA's Juno mission and director of the space science and engineering division at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, the Great Red Spot was thought to be a storm shaped like a flat "pancake."

"We knew it lasted a long time, but we didn't know how deep or how it really worked," Bolton said in the press conference.

"The Great Red Spot is as deep within Jupiter as the International Space Station is high above our heads," Marzia Parisi, research scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.

Since 2016, Juno has been circling Jupiter in long, looping orbits, and NASA just extended its mission until 2025. If everything goes as planned, Juno's orbital path will soon shift to send the probe over the planet's north pole - and away from the Great Red Spot, which is further south.

The Great Red Spot is getting taller as it diminishes, according to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope measurements.

Because of its dwindling size, some experts believe the storm will disintegrate and vanish in a few decades, but others disagree.

Juno, for its part, will continue orbiting Jupiter and studying it for another four years.