# Great Red Spot

Also called: GRS, Jupiter's belts.

A giant storm on Jupiter, larger than Earth, that has raged for at least 190 years.

The Great Red Spot is an enormous high-pressure storm in Jupiter's southern hemisphere. It has been shrinking — once three Earths wide, it's now about 1.3 — and its colour ranges from brick red to a pale salmon. It's only visible when it's on the side of Jupiter facing us, about every other evening for a few hours.

Jupiter's dark belts and bright zones are cloud bands driven by its fast spin (under 10 hours); a light blue filter can lift their contrast.

**At the eyepiece:** Jupiter rotates so fast that features drift visibly in half an hour. Sketching helps your eye pick out detail.

**Examples:** [jupiter](https://astropilot.space/object/jupiter.md)

**Related:** [Planet](https://astropilot.space/glossary/planet.md), [Galilean moons](https://astropilot.space/glossary/galilean-moons.md), [Colour filter](https://astropilot.space/glossary/color-filter.md), [Seeing](https://astropilot.space/glossary/seeing.md)

From the AstroPilot astronomy glossary: https://astropilot.space/glossary/great-red-spot