Jupiter’s “Great Red Spot” Is Shrinking, Why?

One of Jupiter’s most iconic features is its “Great Red Spot” a huge storm that’s the largest one in our entire solar system. At one point, it could have fit three Earths, but more recent images by the Hubble Space Telescope show it has shrunk and could now only fit one Earth. So why’s the weather clearing up on Jupiter?

In short, we don’t know yet. One possibility is that there’s an unknown force acting on Jupiter’s atmosphere. Hubble astronomers are going to be hosting a Google Hangout to discuss the Red Spot on Thursday, May 22nd at 4PM. We’ll have the live event for you here on Geekosystem, but in the meantime here’s a NASA video illustrating the Spot’s decreasing size:

(via HubbleSite.org, images via NASA)

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