# Jupiters Great Red Spot - Always there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801 "2003-02-04T22:13:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TaoPilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TaoPilot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaoPilot)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/21 "2018-02-27T04:59:50Z")
Or The Decent Wall of China. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/22 "2018-02-27T05:10:10Z")
Or Frederick the Passable Prussian. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/23 "2018-02-27T17:53:55Z")
The Fairly Impressive Lakes. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2018, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/24 "2018-02-27T18:10:00Z")
> [@sbunny8](#): > > That hasn’t been true since the early eighties. The width of the red spot is currently only 1.3 times the diameter of Earth and shrinking. It’s wider than it is tall, which means just one Earth would barely fit inside the spot. God damn global warming! ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/25 "2018-03-01T15:06:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Somebody remember to bump this again in 20 years. Yea, but isn’t this board shrinking along with the Great Red spot? Which will go out first? Which makes the mind wander; maybe they are connected! Start new threads and post so that the GRS may live! ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/26 "2018-03-01T16:15:22Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Somebody remember to bump this again in 20 years. Well, luckily most people here have calendar functions on their computer or smartphone. Can you set a date 20 years out? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/27 "2024-06-24T21:21:50Z")
> **[Astronomers think they’ve figured out how and when Jupiter’s Red Spot formed](https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/06/is-jupiters-iconic-red-spot-the-same-one-that-cassini-observed-in-the-1600s/)** > > Astronomers concluded it is not the same and that Cassini's spot disappeared in 1708. The open access article is at: [https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL108993](https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL108993) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2024, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/28 "2024-06-24T21:45:28Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > See that’s the trouble when you build something up by naming it ‘great’, then it turns out to be not-so-great. Like Alexander the Quite-Effective. A storm that’s bigger than the Earth and which has lasted for centuries isn’t “great”? You have some mighty high standards, there. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/29 "2024-06-25T12:10:50Z")
There is also a Great Dark Spot on Neptue and one on Uranus. Great Spots might be a persistent feature on all gas giants, at least in our Solar System > **[Great Dark Spot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Dark_Spot)** > > The Great Dark Spot (also known as GDS-89, for Great Dark Spot, 1989) was one of a series of dark spots on Neptune similar in appearance to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. In 1989, GDS-89 was the first Great Dark Spot on Neptune to be observed by NASA's Voyager 2 space probe. Like Jupiter's spot, the Great Dark Spots are anticyclonic storms. However, their interiors are relatively cloud-free, and unlike Jupiter's spot, which has lasted for hundreds of years, their lifetimes appear to be shorter, formin... > **[Uranus Has a Dark Spot](https://www.space.com/3046-uranus-dark-spot.html)** > > Images of Uranus taken in August by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) show that a dark spot has formed in the planet’s northern hemisphere. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/30 "2024-06-25T19:38:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Uranus Has a Dark Spot That’s between me and my doctor. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/31 "2024-06-25T21:47:45Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > That’s between me and my doctor. As I’ve remarked before, _Uranus_ was almost called “George” That’s what William Herschel, who discovered it, wanted to name it. He was brown-nosing King George III, his patron. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/32 "2024-06-25T22:01:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Great Spots might be a persistent feature on all gas giants, at least in our Solar System ![](https://media4.giphy.com/media/KayVJ5lkB84rm/giphy.gif) “Great Spot!!!” > [@CalMeacham](#): > > As I’ve remarked before, _Uranus_ was almost called “George” That’s what William Herschel, who discovered it, wanted to name it. If I’m remembering correctly, French astronomers at one point advocated calling it “Herschel” after its discoverer, which would have maybe been worse. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2024, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/33 "2024-06-25T23:43:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Uranus Has a Dark Spot Uranus IS a dark spot. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/34 "2024-06-26T02:07:42Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > If I’m remembering correctly, French astronomers at one point advocated calling it “Herschel” after its discoverer, which would have maybe been worse. Quite right. Cooler heads prevailed, though, and they continued with using classical Graeco-Roman mythological figures. Otherwise we’d have to deal with planets with names like William or Elizabeth or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/35 "2024-06-26T20:22:26Z")
Hey, what’s not to like about a planet named Fred? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/36 "2024-06-26T20:25:15Z")
Or… Claire? > **[B52s Planet Claire FULL HQ Restored best version!!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOjAzI5zALo%2F)** > > The B52s Planet Claire recording fully restored from performance on children's TV in the UK. Sound boosted and version used from the record.From ITV's "Get ... ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/37 "2024-06-27T00:16:30Z")
The first solar system objects discovered that are not visible to the naked eye are the four largest moons of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo with his first telescope. He named them after his wealthy student Cosimo de’ Medici and called them “Medicea Sidera” (the Medician stars). We can all be thankful that that name did not last long. What’s surpising to me is the names used nowadays (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto), although proposed in 1614, only became commonly used in the mid 20th century. Before that, they were referred to by numbers, Jupiter I through Jupiter IV. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/38 "2024-06-27T00:28:34Z")
My understanding is that the spot was first recorded during the play _Macbeth_. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/39 "2024-06-27T19:21:33Z")
Out, out! you. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2024, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801/40 "2024-06-27T19:32:59Z")
“I keep scrubbing the lens of my telescope, but I cannot remove the spot!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jupiters-great-red-spot-always-there/152801.md?page=3)