The light colored bands are called zones and the dark colored bands are called belts. It is not known whether the belts and zones are permanent, they have not changed in eighty years of observance. "One theory is that the jet stream at the belt-zone boundaries are linked to circulation patterns deep in the liquid interior" (Seeds, 520) .

             One of the most prominent features in Jupiter"s atmosphere is the Great Red Spot or GRS. The GRS is an oval about 12000 by 25000 km. At first sight the GRS is similar to a hurricane on earth but with infrared observations and by observing the direction of rotation, scientists have concluded that the GRS is a high pressure region whose cloud tops are higher and colder than surrounding regions. Similar animosities exist on the other Jovian planets but it is not known how long they will last.

             Like all Jovian planets, Jupiter has it"s own ring system. Jupiter"s rings are less than 30 kilometers thick and with a distance of 1.81 planetary radii. The rings are at least 100 times harder to see than Saturn"s rings. Most of the particles found in Jupiter"s rings are small and have a diameter about the same size as a light wave length. This causes the light to bounce off of the particles and scatter making the rings look bright. The particles found in Jupiter"s rings are believed to be the remains of a moon that moved in too close to the Roche limit and was torn apart. .

             Like a great king with many followers, Jupiter also has an extremely large amount of satellites orbiting around it. Jupiter"s satellites can be divided into two groups. The smaller moons are merely captured asteroids but the larger moons are like a small planet. Callisto is one of the larger moons orbiting around Jupiter. It is slightly larger than the earth"s moon and has rocky core topped by a mantel of ice. Photographs of Callisto has shown that it is a dead world that is mostly dark and full of pot marks from meteors.