Astronomers have discovered that the single most recognizable characteristic about Jupiter, it’s Great Red Spot, is slowly shrinking. Over the course of a ten year study, observers noticed that the storm, roughly equivalent to the width of three Earths side by side, shrank about a kilometer a day (that’s 0.6 miles) from 1996 to 2006, for a total loss of 15 percent of its diameter. Currently the storm is roughly the shape of an eye, but it is expected to shrink down to a perfect circle by 2040.
