Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 January 9 [2]The featured image shows Jupiter full face including the Great Red Spot as captured by Hubble in 2016. Hubble's Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]Hubble, [6]OPAL Program, [7]STScI; Processing: [8]Karol Masztalerz Explanation: What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot? Gas giant [9]Jupiter is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass [10]of planet Earth. Jupiter is home to one of the largest and longest lasting storm systems known, the [11]Great Red Spot (GRS), visible to the left. The [12]GRS is so large it could swallow Earth, although it has been shrinking. Comparison with historical notes indicate that [13]the storm spans only about one third of the exposed surface area it had 150 years ago. NASA's [14]Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program has been monitoring the storm more recently using the [15]Hubble Space Telescope. The [16]featured Hubble OPAL image shows [17]Jupiter as it appeared in 2016, processed in a way that makes red hues appear quite vibrant. Modern [18]GRS data indicate that the storm continues to constrict its surface area, but is also becoming [19]slightly taller, vertically. No one knows the future of the [20]GRS, including the possibility that if the shrinking trend continues, the GRS might one day even do what [21]smaller spots on Jupiter have done -- [22]disappear completely. Tuesday over Zoom: APOD editor to present the [23]Best APOD Space Images of 2021 Tomorrow's picture: wagging comet tail __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [41]ASD at [42]NASA / [43]GSFC & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2201/JupiterOpal_HubbleMasztalerz_1880.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.esa.int/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html 6. https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/ 7. https://www.stsci.edu/who-we-are 8. mailto: KarolMasztalerz @at@ gim-nt .dot. pl 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/ 10. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/planet_table_ratio.html 11. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/jupiter-s-great-red-spot-a-swirling-mystery 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140518.html 14. https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/ 15. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html 16. https://www.spacetelescope.org/projects/fits_liberator/fitsimages/karol_masztalerz_01/ 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180221.html 18. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018AJ....155..151S 19. http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/jupiters-great-red-spot-is-shrinking-in-length-but-growing-in-height 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171214.html 21. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/jupiter/atmosphere?show=hs_jupiter_atmosphere_story_the-stripe-that-disappeared 22. https://i2.wp.com/theverybesttop10.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Ten-Clearly-Visible-Cats-Who-Suck-at-Hide-and-Seek-8-600x719.jpg 23. https://aaa.org/event/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-2/ 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220108.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220109 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220110.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 44. http://www.mtu.edu/