The Great Red Spot is a gargantuan, high-pressure vortex called an anticyclonic storm that has been raging in Jupiter's southern hemisphere for at least 350 years. The storm's physical width has varied in roughly 150 years of observation, but it's believed to be more than 10,000 miles wide – more than enough to contain the entirety of Earth.

The ambitious mission won't actually look for life on Jupiter's moon Europa, but it should find out if the presumed ocean provides a habitable environment.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft successfully launched Monday afternoon from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s east coast. The mission marks the first time scientists will explore Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, which is widely considered the most likely place beyond Earth to have life right now.