Shrinking Storm

This series of images from Hubble Space Telescope shows that Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the largest storm in the solar system, is shrinking. In the top photo, snapped in 1995, it was about 13,000 miles wide. Today, it's about 10,250 across, and is noticably rounder than in early views. The Great Red Spot is a giant storm that has been observed whirling through Jupiter's southern hemisphere since the 1600s. In the 1800s it spanned about 25,000 miles -- three times Earth's diameter. Planetary scientists are uncertain about the cause, although it may be robbed of energy as it swallows smaller storms. Scientists are also unsure whether this means the storm will soon vanish from view, although the shrinkage seems to be accelerating. [NASA/ESA]