Hubble's Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot
			
		
		
		
			What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot? 
Gas giant 
Jupiter is the solar system's
largest world with about 320 times the mass
of planet Earth.
Jupiter is home to one of the largest and longest lasting storm systems known,
the Great Red Spot (GRS), visible to the left.
The GRS is so large it could swallow Earth, although it has been shrinking. 
Comparison with historical notes indicate that 
the storm 
spans only about one third of the exposed surface area it had 150 years ago.
NASA's 
Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program has been monitoring the storm more recently using the 
Hubble Space Telescope.
The featured Hubble OPAL image shows 
Jupiter as it appeared in 2016, 
processed in a way that makes red hues appear quite vibrant.
Modern GRS data indicate that the storm continues to constrict its surface area, 
but is also becoming 
slightly taller, vertically. 
No one knows the future of the 
GRS, including the possibility that if the shrinking trend continues, the GRS might one day even do what 
smaller spots on Jupiter have done -- 
disappear completely.