Jupiter's Shrinking Spot

摘要

Astronomers have known for decades that Jupiter's trademark weather pattern - the stormy Great Red Spot is shrinking. But in May, after taking a closer look with the Hubble Space Telescope, they learned that lately the spot has been shrinking at a faster rate. In 1979, when Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flew by, the Great Red Spot was 14,500 miles wide. Now it's just 10,250 miles wide and shrinking by 580 miles per year. The cause of the big shrink remains a mystery.