jupiter cyclops eye
Jupiter's "Cyclops" eye. Nasa/ESA/A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center)

Jupiter has been spotted "looking back" at us through a huge Cyclops eye by Nasa's Hubble Telescope.

The 10,000 mile-diameter "eye" was spotted while Hubble was monitoring changes to the planet's Great Red Spot storm that took place in April.

At this time, Jupiter's Ganymede moon moved across the storm, casting a shadow across the area, which made the Great Red Spot look like a giant eye looking back at Earth.

jupiter cyclops eye
The eye was the result of a shadow passing over the storm NASA/ESA/A. Simon Goddard Space Flight Center

"This gave the giant planet the uncanny appearance of having a pupil in the centre of a 10,000 mile-diameter 'eye'," Nasa said. "For a moment, Jupiter 'stared' back at Hubble like a one-eyed giant Cyclops."

The Great Red Spot is a persistent anticyclonic storm first discovered in 1665 by Gian Domenico Cassini.

jupiter giant red spot
Jupiter's Great Red Spot has been shrinking since the 1930s NASA/ESA

Earlier this year, Nasa announced it has shrunk to its smallest size ever measured, with the spot measuring just 10,250 miles across.

Astronomers said the spot has been getting smaller since the 1930s. Amy Simon of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre, said: "It is apparent very small eddies are feeding into the storm. We hypothesised these may be responsible for the accelerated change by altering the internal dynamics and energy of the Great Red Spot."

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