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Primal Space

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
113 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

It certainly won't go anywhere for another few decades at least.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

And as it continues to gobble up smaller storms, it could well be that it stays as a permanent feature.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Wind speeds measure up to 430 kilometers around the walls.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

However, in the center, an eye can indeed be found.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Here the air is relatively motionless, a stark contrast to what it's like in any direction for thousands of kilometers.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Number two, Saturn's storm.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Saturn, like a lot of other planets with atmospheres, also has beautiful polar vortices, one found on each of its poles.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Saturn's south pole has a relatively normal yet very large vortex and eye found in the center, with many smaller storms circling it.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

However, the really eye-catching storm is found in the north pole, which has been dubbed Saturn's hexagon.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

In a similar fashion to Jupiter's hexagon structure of storms, Saturn goes a step further and exhibits an actual hexagon which stretches for 30,000 kilometers across.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Each one of the sides of the hexagon about the size of Earth.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

The explanation for why this hexagon exists is not known for sure, but some experiments have recreated a hexagon in a circular tank of liquid by using just the right speed and gradient of flow.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Cassini, as it passed by the central vortex, captured this stunning close-up of the cloud's structure found in the center.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

However, these storms did not put Saturn at number two on the list.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

The biggest storm on Saturn was named the Great White Spot.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

These are temporary storms which appear every few decades, the last one forming about 10 years ago.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

What makes these storms so big is that they are very long, sometimes even looping around the entire planet as they travel.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

They are thought to appear in conjunction with Saturnian seasons forming as the atmosphere cools in a hemisphere.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Leaving us with the biggest storm found in the solar system.

Astrum Space
The Most Violent Storms Our Solar System Has Ever Seen

Number one, the Carrington event.