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What Is Jupiter's Distinguishing Feature

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Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and is the largest planet in the solar system. However, Jupiter's size is not its distinguishing feature. Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a giant, rotating storm that has been raging for hundreds of years. “It is generally reddish in color, slightly oval in shape, and approximately 16,500 km (10,250 miles) wide—large enough to engulf Earth,” says Encyclopedia Britannica. Wind speed on and around this spot can exceed four hundred miles per hour! The atmosphere above the storm is hundreds of degrees hotter than anywhere else on Jupiter. James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist at Boston university said, "This warmth is a discrepancy that has haunted everyone for fifty years now." Why?

Jupiter is about four

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