This view of Jupiter shows the giant planet's cloud tops taken by the Pioneer 10 spacecraft as it flew past Jupiter last December. This view was taken from 2,695,000 kilometers (1,842,451 miles) away. It shows the 25,000 mile long Great Red Spot, which is large enough to swallow up several Earths. Individual cloud formations are visible in some detail. The bright zones appear to become split up into the detailed flow patterns of Jupiter's atmosphere and clouds.
<p>The area surrounding the Spot in the bright South Tropical Zone, suggests a flow pattern about the Spot which is bulged toward the north by the Spot. The Spot may be a gigantic "permanent hurricane." The gigantic cloud swirls are thousands or more miles across.
</p>
Pioneer 10 flew past Jupiter in December 1974 and flew past the orbit of Pluto in 1987. A sister spacecraft, Pioneer 11 reached Jupiter in December 1975. The Pioneer Project was managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calafornia. The spacecraft was built by TRW Systems.
NASA
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/LARGE/GPN-2000-001698.jpg">Great Images in NASA</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2000-001698.html">Description</a>