Posted on 05/15/2014 1:08:00 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Recent Hubble Space Telescope observations confirm that the spot is now just under 10,250 miles (16,500 km) across, the smallest diameter we’ve ever measured,” said Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, USA.
Using historic sketches and photos from the late 1800s, astronomers determined the spot’s diameter then at 25,475 miles (41,000 km) across. Even the smallest telescope would have shown it as a huge red hot dog. Amateur observations starting in 2012 revealed a noticeable increase in the spot’s shrinkage rate.
The spot’s “waistline” is getting smaller by just under 620 miles (1,000 km) per year while its north-south extent has changed little. In a word, the spot has downsized and become more circular in shape. Many who’ve attempted to see Jupiter’s signature feature have been frustrated in recent years not only because the spot’s pale color makes it hard to see against adjacent cloud features, but because it’s physically getting smaller.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Global warming is to blame. Or Bush.
Man made global warming no doubt...
NASA’s fault. A record number of satellites sent to Jupiter, flyby’s Pioneer and Voyager stripping the planet of some its energy. Yep - man-caused, no doubt about it.
We have to be at fault.
its that evil CO2...just ask algore
Climate change?
It’s all those SUVs on Jupiter
Are you implying that the Great Red Spot (GRS) was in the pool???
Climate change!!!
Smalles EVER? How would we know? Where humans around 100 million...1 billion years ago?
It’s those Koch Brothers.
Man has to be causing climate change on Jupiter by observing it with a telescope. That makes as much sense as what the alarmist are telling us here on Earth.
Beat me to it.
Scientists are attempting to determine if there's any connection between the shrinking of the red spot, and the discovery of a gigantic tube of Clearsil found orbiting the planet.
“IT’S SHRINKING!!! IT’S SHRINKING!!!!”
and me...
Global cooling.
Had the same observation been observed on Uranus, I would have breathed a sigh of relief..........
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