Jupiter's Great Red Spot: A Storm That Squeezes and Wobbles

Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have made a surprising discovery: Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot isn't as stable as it appears. Over 90 days, Hubble captured the storm's size changing like a squeezed stress ball, expanding and contracting. This huge storm, big enough to fit Earth inside, is also wiggling like gelatin. The storm's motion and size seem to be connected, with it growing and shrinking as it speeds up and slows down. These changes haven't been seen before. Scientists are excited because understanding this storm could help them understand weather on other planets. They use a special program called OPAL to track the storm's behavior once a year. Recently, they also looked at it more closely over a few months. They found that the storm's core brightens when it's at its largest. The storm is trapped between windy jet streams, like a sandwich filling pushing out the bread. Scientists think it's shrinking and will eventually stop wobbling so much. By watching the storm over time, they can learn more about Jupiter's atmosphere.