Atmosphere and characteristics of Jupiter

Bizarre, colorful clouds of methane and ammonia compounds ripple through the turbulence of the Jovian atmosphere. When we look at Jupiter, whether it be through a telescope, or from spacecraft images. shows not the surface of the planet, but the atmosphere. The atmosphere appears as alternating bands of light regions, called zones, and dark regions called belts, that run parallel to the equator. The zones are higher in altitude than the belts, and are correspondingly …

…is a rising area of high pressure and is higher in altitude than the zones and is also a few degrees cooler. The spot rotates counterclockwise, once every 7 days. Behind the spot is a region of turbulence form the atmosphere forced to flow around the spot. http://starryskies.com/solar_system/Jupiter_html/jupiter_atmoshere.html http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiter/atmosphere.html http://www.skyskan.com/Products/SPFX_proj/cont.jup_atm.html