The Great Red Spot is a giant storm on Jupiter’s surface. It is similar to a hurricane but much larger in size. In fact, three earths could fit in the size of the Great Red Spot.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was first discovered in the 1600’s by astronomer Robert Hooke. The longevity of this storm is at least partially due to the fact that storm never goes over land. Similar to when hurricanes reach land, they lose steam, but the Great Red Spot never encounters land because Jupiter’s surface does not have any.

This CNN news article from earlier this year suggest the declining size of the Great Red Spot. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have discovered that the size of the storm has decreased 15% between 1996 and 2006.

Its possible that the storm will disappear someday. Glenn Orton of NASA says “the Great Red Spot may not always be the largest and strongest storm on Jupiter.” New storms are continually spawning and dying, but the Great Red Spot is still king.