Is the Great Red Spot Really Red?

We've been tracking the great red spot for at least a hundred and 50 years. It doesn't appear that we have a decisive period of time where historians can look back and say, you know what? This is when the spot appeared. Some scientists think the red color comes from maybe some sort of chemicals that come from somewhere beneath the storm's cloud tops. Other researchers say that the rusty color may be coming from sun that's splitting up various chemicals in the storm's upper atmosphere.