    APOD: 2018 April 25 - Hubbles Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 April 25
                                      [2]
              Hubble's Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot
   Image Credit: NASA [3] , ESA [4] , Hubble [5] , OPAL Program, STScI [7] ;
                       Processing: Karol Masztalerz [8]

Explanation: What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot? Gas giant Jupiter
[9]  is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass of
planet Earth [10] . Jupiter is home to one of the largest and longest lasting
storm systems known, the Great Red Spot [11]  (GRS), visible to the left. The
GRS [12]  is so large it could swallow Earth, although it has been shrinking.
Comparison with historical notes indicate that the storm [13] spans only about
one third of the surface area it had 150 years ago. NASA's Outer Planets
Atmospheres Legacy [14]  (OPAL) program has been monitoring the storm more
recently using the Hubble Space Telescope [15] . The featured Hubble OPAL
image [16]  shows Jupiter [17]  as it appeared in 2016, processed in a way
that makes red hues appear quite vibrant. Modern GRS data indicate [18]  that
the storm continues to constrict its surface area, but is also becoming
slightly taller [19] , vertically. No one knows the future of the GRS [20] ,
including the possibility that if the shrinking trend continues, the GRS might
one day even do what smaller spots [21]  on Jupiter have done -- disappear
completely [22] .

                      Tomorrow's picture: open space [23]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [35] (MTU [36] ) & Jerry Bonnell [37]
                                  (UMCP [38] )
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1804/JupiterOpal_HubbleMasztalerz_1880.jpg
  [3] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [4] http://www.esa.int/
  [5] https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html
  [6] https://archive.stsci.edu/prepds/opal/
  [7] http://www.stsci.edu/who-we-are
  [8] mailto: KarolMasztalerz @at@ gim-nt .dot. pl
  [9] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/
  [10] http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/ planet_table_ratio.html
  [11] http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/29/index.html
  [12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot
  [13] 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] 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] ap171214.html
  [21]
https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/jupiter/
atmosphere?show=hs_jupiter_atmosphere_story_the-stripe-that-disappeared
  [22]
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/02/
jupiter-great-red-spot-disappear-10-years-space-science-spd/
  [23] ap180426.html
  [24] ap180424.html
  [25] archivepix.html
  [26] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [27] lib/aptree.html
  [28] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [29] calendar/allyears.html
  [30] /apod.rss
  [31] lib/edlinks.html
  [32] lib/about_apod.html
  [33] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180425
  [34] ap180426.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] 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/
