Thanks to new, stunningly detailed images of Jupiter, NASA researchers concluded the planet's Great Red Spot (GRS) is shrinking.
According to The Washington Post, NASA first noticed the GRS' regression about a year ago and noted the process has been hastening since about 2012. NASA is currently waiting for its Juno spacecraft to arrive at Jupiter next July to get even more accurate readings.
"In our new observations it is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm," Amy Simon, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a press release in May 2014. "We hypothesized these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."
Simon co-authored a study published in the Astrophysical Journal last week detailing observations from the Hubble Telescope showing detailed looks at Jupiter's wind speeds.
"Every time we look at Jupiter, we get tantalizing hints that something really exciting is going on," Simon said in a press release. "This time is no exception."
The GRS is still massive, but its color is fading as well, turning more orange than red. NASA plans to continue making these kinds of observations, with Neptune and Uranus as well, with the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program.
"The long-term value of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program is really exciting," study co-author Michael H. Wong, of the University of California, Berkeley, said in the release. "The collection of maps that we will build up over time will not only help scientists understand the atmospheres of our giant planets, but also the atmospheres of planets being discovered around other stars, and Earth's atmosphere and oceans, too."
