According to a study, the best thermal images of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot taken have unveiled amazing weather and temperature difference within the solar system’s most popular storm.

The darkest red part of the spot turns out to be a warm area inside the otherwise cold storm. The temperature difference is minor, “Warm” in this case means 250 degrees Fahrenheit while cold is an even frostier, 256 degrees F.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astronomer, Glenn Orton, said, “We once thought the Great Red Spot was a plain old oval without much structure, but these new results show that it is, in fact, extremely complicated”.

It is believed that the Red Spot has been there since the late 17th century, when astronomers had first looked at it. However, at that time, you might have been “tempted to call it the great red sausage”.

Though it is shrinking gradually, it is still the solar system’s longest-lived and biggest storm system, broader than three Earths.

Scientists have also observed that its color changes significantly, however, it is unclear what steers the changes. According to a leading theory, sulphurous molecules from deep in the Jovian atmosphere are knocked down by the storm, exposing them to ultraviolet waves that split them apart. The newly freed sulphur atoms then change color and lend the spot its unique shade.

The new thermal images were taken in Chile by the VISIR instrument on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope.