New observations of the Great Red Spot ( GRS ) , Jupiter ’s tremendous storm , have revealed that it is less unchanging than previously thought . even observation over the course of 90 mean solar day have disclose that its elliptical shape can transfer dimension , becoming squish in different directions .

The fact that it changes shape is not exactly unexpected . It has sure lessen in size of it over the last several years – but the observations between December 2023 and March 2024 , have let on that is also splash about , appearing like it ’s being push and squelch like a stress ball .

" While we knew its motion varies slightly in its longitude , we did n’t require to see the size of it oscillate as well . As far as we screw , it ’s not been identify before , " lead source Amy Simon , of NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center , said in astatement . " This is really the first clock time we ’ve had the proper imaging meter of the GRS . With Hubble ’s high resolution we can say that the GRS is definitively squeezing in and out at the same metre as it go quicker and slower . That was very unexpected , and at present tense there are no hydrodynamic explanations . "

![Eight Hubble images repeat in a gif, showing Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. The GRS appears as a bright red oval in the middle of cream-colored cloud bands. The images trace changes in the GRS’s size, shape, brightness, color, and twisting sometimes looking thinner and other times thicker](https://assets.iflscience.com/assets/articleNo/76322/iImg/79430/ezgif.com-animated-gif-maker (5).gif)

How the Great Red Spot Changed over 90 days.Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)Joseph DePasquale (STScI) - Animated by IFLScience

There are a lot of change happening day to 24-hour interval – and a quite a little is going on . Hubble observations in ultraviolet showed that the spot ’s nucleus get the brightest during the moments when the storm is at its tumid . This implies that there is less fog . JWST has also bet at the expectant Red Spotrecently , but there have not been enough continuous observation to talk over modification in the infrared emission .

" As it quicken and decelerates , the GRS is drive against the windy K stream to the Frederick North and Confederate States of America of it , " said co - detective Mike Wong of the University of California at Berkeley . " It ’s standardized to a sandwich where the slices of lucre are force to pop out out when there ’s too much weft in the middle . "

The GRS has been a feature on Jupiter for at least 150 years , maybe more . observation from the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy program ( OPAL ) over the last ten twelvemonth have highlighted how it might be getting smaller . This might not think it is go to disappear – the winds that contract it might just keep it static and the same size .

" Right now it ’s over - satiate its line of latitude band relative to the wind field of study . Once it shrinks inside that band the winds will really be holding it in place , " order Simon .

The results are being presented at the56th yearly meeting of the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences , in Boise , Idaho , and are write inThe Planetary Science Journal .