Watch Jupiter's Great Red Spot Mysteriously Shrink

Rhykker

Level 16 Scallywag
Feb 28, 2010
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Watch Jupiter's Great Red Spot Mysteriously Shrink



Jupiter's Great Red Spot has shrunk to its smallest size yet, and scientists aren't sure why.

Recent images from the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that Jupiter's Great Red Spot has shrunk to less than half the size it was in the late 1800s. There was a time when three Earths could fit inside the storm; now, at 10,250 miles across, it fits only one Earth. You can watch a video showing the shrinkage right here [http://www.space.com/25888-jupiter-s-great-red-shrinking-spot-spied-by-hubble-video.html].

Not only is the storm shrinking, but the rate at which it is shrinking appears to be accelerating, and scientists don't seem to have a solid explanation.

"One possibility is that some unknown activity in the planet's atmosphere may be draining energy and weakening the storm, causing it to shrink," Hubble officials wrote in a statement.

Astronomers have known about the Great Red Spot since the 1600s, but it was not until 1930 that they noticed the spot was shrinking. Since then, flybys by Voyager 1 and 2 and images from the Hubble Space Telescope have tracked the shrinkage.

"In our new observations, it is apparent that very small eddies are feeding into the storm," Amy Simon, associate director for strategic science at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a statement. "We hypothesized that these may be responsible for the accelerated change, by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."

Could we be witnessing the slow death of Jupiter's Great Red Spot?


Source: Space [http://www.space.com/25891-jupiter-great-red-spot-shrinking-video.html]

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thiosk

New member
Sep 18, 2008
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Its clear that our interplanetary war against the evil jovians has finally borne fruit.
Soon the capital city of the jovian empire, enshrouded by the dull glow that is the energy shield protecting it from our retaliation, will be vulnerable to attack. Now is the time, brothers, to launch the invasion. its time to make the jovians tremble. our vengeance is at hand!

The arcane energies of their shielding engines cannot protect them from our might!
 

COMaestro

Vae Victis!
May 24, 2010
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It's just housekeeping at work. They won't be finished until the planet is spotless.
 

DirgeNovak

I'm anticipating DmC. Flame me.
Jul 23, 2008
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Well, it's a storm. Every storm ends at one point. This one will just have lasted a few centuries/millenia more than our casual Earthling storms.
 

Ukomba

New member
Oct 14, 2010
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Clearly it's caused by suv's and Chinese coal power plants. Kind of sad to see somethig that iconic shrinking.
 

tangoprime

Renegade Interrupt
May 5, 2011
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Global climate change, obviously.
Ukomba said:
Clearly it's caused by suv's and Chinese coal power plants. Kind of sad to see somethig that iconic shrinking.
This guy knows what I'm talking about.
 

Tiamat666

Level 80 Legendary Postlord
Dec 4, 2007
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It's Jupiter's eye. It's finally noticed Earth is staring at it with its huge telescopes and it's giving us a wink. Albeit rather slowly.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
 

evilnancyreagan

New member
May 1, 2014
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Tiamat666 said:
It's Jupiter's eye. It's finally noticed Earth is staring at it with its huge telescopes and it's giving us a wink. Albeit rather slowly.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
heh, our planet like dems big girls!
 

Ferisar

New member
Oct 2, 2010
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evilnancyreagan said:
Tiamat666 said:
It's Jupiter's eye. It's finally noticed Earth is staring at it with its huge telescopes and it's giving us a wink. Albeit rather slowly.

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
heh, our planet like dems big girls!
I think Jupiter likes petite planets, more like. (Something about Spartacus here)

And yeah, this interesting, or at least more-so neat, since I've not the slightest idea of why it may happen.
 

Not G. Ivingname

New member
Nov 18, 2009
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It is a storm that has lasted for as long as humans have been physically able to see it. That is an impressive feat by itself, but nothing lasts forever, even on a cosmic scale. Were going to lose Saturn's Rings in a about fifty thousand years, although Neptune will gain some within that same time frame.
 

RicoADF

Welcome back Commander
Jun 2, 2009
3,147
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Eh, there's already a great red spot v2 being formed called the "Oval BA", I'm guessing it's just a natural lifecycle and there's probably been a lot of them over Jupiter's lifespan.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,316
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inb4 the scourge of humanity somehow did it.

Anyway, cool and sad. :( I wonder if the hypercane will vanish entirely before I die...
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
8,407
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thiosk said:
Its clear that our interplanetary war against the evil jovians has finally borne fruit.
Soon the capital city of the jovian empire, enshrouded by the dull glow that is the energy shield protecting it from our retaliation, will be vulnerable to attack. Now is the time, brothers, to launch the invasion. its time to make the jovians tremble. our vengeance is at hand!

The arcane energies of their shielding engines cannot protect them from our might!
Amarr has already tried that. The Jovian Mothership turned them into spacedust [https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/The_Battle_of_Vak%27Atioth_%28Chronicle%29]. This is a bad idea.