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We live in a violent Universe.

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Planetary winds rage
at six times the speed of sound.

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Lightning storms stretch
for thousands of miles.

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Dust storms
engulf entire worlds.

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We can have planetary storms

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the like of which we never see
here on the planet Earth.

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The largest storms

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can be on the scale
of entire galaxies.

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Sometimes those massive stars
can literally explode.

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The universe is a chaotic place.

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Earth has storms.

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Other worlds have megastorms,

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storms almost too vast
to imagine.

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Yet from the violence
emerges a ray of hope.

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We kind of owe our existence
to these sorts of events,

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these sort of galactic storms.

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Could megastorms
be necessary for life itself?

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On some planets,
storms are impossible.

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Superheated Mercury is too small
and too close to our Sun

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to have
a significant atmosphere.

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And no atmosphere
means no storms.

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But move out away from the Sun,

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and we find worlds with
turbulent, chaotic atmospheres.

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They can spawn some of the most
awe-inspiring megastorms

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in our solar system.

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This is Venus,

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a planet completely shrouded
with clouds.

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Winds rip around
the upper atmosphere

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at over 300 miles per hour.

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About 35 miles
above the surface,

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the winds are whipping around
in a ferocious pattern

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that basically carries
the cloud features

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around the entire planet
every four days.

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Venus is closer
to the Sun than Earth,

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and it's heat from the Sun
that drives the wind.

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The circulation
pattern of Venus' clouds

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is actually quite simple.

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There's a warm side of Venus
and a cold side.

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And as air warms up and rises
on the day side of Venus,

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it spreads around
to the night side.

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So, there's
this continuous current

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that's actually
quite a lot simpler

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than the atmospheric circulation
on Earth.

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Venus' winds circulate faster

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than the fastest hurricane
on Earth.

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But they look very similar.

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The Venus Express probe
captured these remarkable images

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of the planet's south pole.

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One of the great
mysteries of Venus

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which actually had jaws dropping

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in the halls
of many astronomy departments

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is the fact
that we have hurricanes

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at the poles of Venus,

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especially in the southern
hemisphere, that have two eyes.

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Not one eye, but two eyes.

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Now, we've never seen this
before

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on such a planetary scale.

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Venus' double-eyed vortex

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is 1,800 miles wide.

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Two hurricanes
whirl around each other.

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If you could descend
into the vortex of Venus,

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something I would love to do,

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at least with
a remote machine...

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...I think you would see

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some kind of a fantastic wall
of cloud

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and this sort of twisting form

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spinning around you
at ferocious speeds.

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It would be quite a sight.

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It's a mystery

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how deep this raging,
spinning vortex goes,

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but maybe this megastorm eye

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descends
to the planet's surface.

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Down here, permanent twilight
bathes a volcanic landscape,

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and the atmosphere's
colossal weight

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creates immense pressure.

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The atmospheric pressure
on Venus

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is about 100 times
that of the Earth.

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Think of taking a car,

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squeezing it down
to about a square inch,

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and putting it on every
square inch of your skin.

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You'd be flattened
within a fraction of a second

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because of all that pressure.

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Venus' dense atmosphere

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creates one of the strangest
megastorms imaginable --

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four miles per hour winds

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with the force of a hurricane.

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The winds on the surface
of Venus are actually very slow

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because Venus has
a very slow rotation rate.

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It takes Venus
about eight months

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to turn once around
with respect to the sun.

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The crushing
atmospheric pressure

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rams gas molecules
together so tightly

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that they feel
more like a liquid.

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A gentle 4-mile-an-hour breeze
packs a brutal punch.

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It's like a hurricane
in slow motion.

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Winds on Venus

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are totally unlike anything
we see on the planet Earth.

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You would almost feel,
like, a molasses effect.

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It'd be quite difficult

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to simply walk and run
right through the wind.

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Venus' surface is so hostile

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that life is impossible here.

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But the upper atmosphere's
faster winds

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hold an extraordinary
possibility.

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I harbor this --

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I don't know if I would call it
a hypothesis

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or a scientific fantasy.

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But I do think it's plausible

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that there could be
some kind of life living

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in the clouds of Venus.

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There are certainly
energy sources.

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There's sunlight.

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And there are certainly
nutrients.

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There's carbon,
there's hydrogen,

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there's oxygen --

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all the stuff we think of
that you need to make life

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exists in the clouds of Venus.

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Earth's upper
atmosphere is full of life --

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microscopic bacteria
drifting on the wind.

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Could Venus be the same?

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Perhaps one day we'll send
a probe to find out.

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Leave Venus behind,
and the next planet is Earth.

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Here, too,
the weather gets extreme.

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We are bombarded by tornadoes...

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hurricanes...

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and these -- dust storms.

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On Earth, they're localized.

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But on the next planet out...

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they engulf an entire world.

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Over 100 years ago,

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astronomers thought
they had found life on Mars.

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A dark wave spread from the pole
towards the equator.

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They thought it was
springtime vegetation

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spreading across the planet.

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They were right
about the season.

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Mars tilts
at roughly 23 degrees,

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like the Earth,

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so you would have summer,
fall, winter, spring,

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like the seasons.

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Seasons bring weather.

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The shadow astronomers saw

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was actually dark rock uncovered
by a violent dust storm.

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It's all because of the way
the planet tilts.

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The Earth takes one year
to orbit the Sun.

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In January,

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the northern hemisphere
leans away from the Sun,

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and we get our winter.

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In June, it leans inwards,
our summer.

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Mars has gigantic
planetary dust storms

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the like of which we've never
seen here on the planet Earth.

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Mars has
around the same tilt as Earth,

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and springtime means storms.

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The martian surface vanishes

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under a cloud
of raging dust particles.

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On Earth,
we get dust storms, too.

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They can be devastating,
swallowing entire cities.

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July 5, 2011, Arizona.

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An unstoppable
5,000-foot-high wall of dust

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smashes into Phoenix.

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Day turns to night.

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Thousands of tons of dust
settle over the city.

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But the disaster
stays in one place.

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Mars' dust storms
can engulf the entire planet.

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On Mars, when dust gets
kicked up once, it lands,

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it can get kicked up
again and again.

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The dust is reusable.

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On the Earth,

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when the dust gets kicked up
and then finally settles out,

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it's probably gonna settle out
into the ocean,

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where it's gone for good.

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There's nowhere on Mars

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where there isn't ready dust
and sand to add to that storm.

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So, these storm systems
can kick up

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and last weeks or even months.

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Mars' incredibly dry atmosphere

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contributes to the storms'
size and power.

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In the case of the Earth,

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dust that gets up
into the atmosphere

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is rapidly washed out
by the rain

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and gets into the ocean.

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In the case of Mars,

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there's no comparable rain
to wash the dust out.

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So, once the dust gets
into the atmosphere,

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it just sits there

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until the particles
by themselves

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are able to slowly settle out.

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A lack of rain

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allows Mars' dust storms
to cover the planet.

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But dust storms on Mars

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can be equally spectacular
on a much smaller scale.

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NASA rovers captured
these extraordinary images --

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dust devils sucking up fine,
dry, iron-oxide dust.

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The biggest dust devils can
reach six miles into the sky.

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They pump fine particles
high into Mars' atmosphere,

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creating a haze of dust

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that may help control
the planet's dry climate...

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and lead to
a planet-wide megastorm.

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Even on Mars,
dust storms this big are rare.

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Astronomers
have detected just 10

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in the last 100 years.

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What the ancient astronomers
mistook for life

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was a megastorm.

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But even a planet-covering
dust storm

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is dwarfed by the weather

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on the next planet
out from our Sun.

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This is the giant
of our solar system --

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Jupiter.

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Jupiter is gigantic.

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It's 2½ times more massive

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than all the other planets in
the solar system added together.

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It's also home
to gigantic megastorms.

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Jupiter's high-speed rotation

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drives vast bands
of counter-rotating clouds.

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Colossal storms build
along the boundaries.

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And this is the biggest
of them all,

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the oldest storm
in the solar system.

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15,000 miles across
and over 300 years old,

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the great red spot.

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Around the edges,

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turbulent winds rage
at over 300 miles per hour.

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The great red spot
is a giant vortex,

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meaning that,
in the case of the red spot,

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it has a high-pressure center

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with winds that swirl
around the outer edge.

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So, in that sense,

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the great red spot is
a little bit like a hurricane.

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A hurricane with a difference.

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On Earth,

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hurricanes feed
off heat from the ocean.

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When they hit land,
they start to die.

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So, on average,
they last only about a week.

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Jupiter does not have land.

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Jupiter is
a completely gaseous planet,

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and the friction there
is very weak.

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And so a vortex,
like the great red spot,

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can last indefinitely.

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There's nothing to slow it down.

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To keep going,

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all the red spot needs
is a power source.

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On Earth, ultimately,
that's heat from the Sun.

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But Jupiter's five times farther
from the Sun than us.

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Heat from the Sun is not enough
to drive the red spot.

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Instead, Jupiter has
an internal power source --

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its own immense gravity.

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In 1995, NASA launched a probe

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00:16:08,494 --> 00:16:13,630
straight toward
the giant planet's heart.

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00:16:13,632 --> 00:16:17,434
It plunged into Jupiter's
upper atmosphere

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at over 106,000 miles per hour.

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As it fell,

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the planet's crushing gravity
ratcheted up the pressure...

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10, 15, 20 times
what we feel on Earth.

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Winds gusted
to over 400 miles per hour.

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00:16:43,629 --> 00:16:48,298
The probe gave out
just 100 miles in,

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crushed by pressure

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00:16:50,769 --> 00:16:54,404
and fried by the incredible heat
the pressure generated.

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00:16:58,243 --> 00:17:00,478
Had the probe made it deeper,

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it would have reached
a vast, silvery ocean.

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Intense pressures here
turn hydrogen gas

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00:17:11,491 --> 00:17:14,592
into a churning,
metallic liquid,

260
00:17:14,594 --> 00:17:19,663
superheated to over
40,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

261
00:17:22,767 --> 00:17:27,203
Jupiter's interior pumps out
about twice as much energy

262
00:17:27,205 --> 00:17:31,041
as the surface gets
from the Sun.

263
00:17:36,046 --> 00:17:38,548
This is Jupiter's power source,

264
00:17:38,550 --> 00:17:42,918
the heat that drives
its massive megastorms.

265
00:17:45,321 --> 00:17:47,689
All of the convection,
all of the heat

266
00:17:47,691 --> 00:17:51,360
comes from the hot, dense
interior of the planet itself.

267
00:17:51,362 --> 00:17:53,228
So, the bands of clouds
that you see

268
00:17:53,230 --> 00:17:56,265
that are even counter-rotating,
going in different directions,

269
00:17:56,267 --> 00:17:57,700
those are all driven

270
00:17:57,702 --> 00:18:00,369
by the internal heat
of Jupiter itself.

271
00:18:03,473 --> 00:18:05,040
Jupiter's internal heat

272
00:18:05,042 --> 00:18:08,744
drives its violent megastorms.

273
00:18:08,746 --> 00:18:15,385
But the giant planet may hold
clues to an even deeper mystery.

274
00:18:15,387 --> 00:18:19,189
Could life exist
on other worlds?

275
00:18:23,061 --> 00:18:27,365
NASA's Cassini probe
studied Jupiter

276
00:18:27,367 --> 00:18:31,369
as it flew past
en route to saturn.

277
00:18:31,371 --> 00:18:35,206
It made an extraordinary
discovery --

278
00:18:35,208 --> 00:18:40,145
strange white clouds just north
of the great red spot.

279
00:18:43,015 --> 00:18:47,118
Clouds just like the clouds
on Earth --

280
00:18:47,120 --> 00:18:50,354
droplets of liquid water.

281
00:18:50,356 --> 00:18:54,825
Could Jupiter have
the ingredients for life?

282
00:18:54,827 --> 00:18:56,727
The question of life
on the giant planets

283
00:18:56,729 --> 00:18:57,894
is an interesting one.

284
00:18:57,896 --> 00:18:59,696
You have many
of the ingredients for life.

285
00:18:59,698 --> 00:19:01,130
You have sunlight coming in.

286
00:19:01,132 --> 00:19:02,298
There's liquid water,

287
00:19:02,300 --> 00:19:04,367
at least in the form
of cloud droplets.

288
00:19:04,369 --> 00:19:07,169
On the other hand, if life
can easily exist in clouds,

289
00:19:07,171 --> 00:19:08,971
you might expect
that bacteria and algae

290
00:19:08,973 --> 00:19:10,538
would populate
the clouds on Earth

291
00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:11,873
and the clouds would be green.

292
00:19:11,875 --> 00:19:13,474
We don't see that on the Earth.

293
00:19:13,476 --> 00:19:15,276
We do see microbes
at many altitudes

294
00:19:15,278 --> 00:19:16,978
throughout
the Earth's atmosphere,

295
00:19:16,980 --> 00:19:19,380
but they seem to largely be
blown off of the surface.

296
00:19:21,584 --> 00:19:23,652
It's likely that life on Earth

297
00:19:23,654 --> 00:19:27,055
began on a solid surface.

298
00:19:27,057 --> 00:19:32,694
But could life evolve
without one?

299
00:19:32,696 --> 00:19:34,930
There's no surface on Jupiter,

300
00:19:34,932 --> 00:19:37,265
and so that makes it difficult

301
00:19:37,267 --> 00:19:40,402
for organisms to have
a constant source of water.

302
00:19:40,404 --> 00:19:41,803
So, if you imagine yourself

303
00:19:41,805 --> 00:19:44,305
being a little bacterium
inside a cloud droplet,

304
00:19:44,307 --> 00:19:45,706
you're gonna be in deep trouble

305
00:19:45,708 --> 00:19:47,775
when that cloud droplet
evaporates.

306
00:19:50,846 --> 00:19:54,883
Whether life exists
in Jupiter's clouds or not,

307
00:19:54,885 --> 00:19:58,553
gas giants like Jupiter
and its neighbor Saturn

308
00:19:58,555 --> 00:20:01,890
have all the right
ingredients --

309
00:20:01,892 --> 00:20:07,763
water, heat,
and one other vital element,

310
00:20:07,765 --> 00:20:08,998
a spark...

311
00:20:10,601 --> 00:20:14,770
...lightning
on an unimaginable scale.

312
00:20:32,167 --> 00:20:36,304
These haunting images
are from NASA's Cassini probe.

313
00:20:38,207 --> 00:20:39,842
Its mission --

314
00:20:39,844 --> 00:20:41,977
to explore
one of the solar system's

315
00:20:41,979 --> 00:20:46,415
most awe-inspiring planets...

316
00:20:46,417 --> 00:20:48,650
Saturn.

317
00:20:48,652 --> 00:20:54,089
The probe reveals
Saturn's rings...

318
00:20:54,091 --> 00:20:55,423
moons...

319
00:20:55,425 --> 00:21:00,294
and the planet itself
in near-perfect detail.

320
00:21:05,734 --> 00:21:09,904
Chaotic bands of cloud
race around Saturn

321
00:21:09,906 --> 00:21:12,574
at more than
1,000 miles per hour.

322
00:21:20,216 --> 00:21:24,353
Finding storms here
was no surprise.

323
00:21:24,355 --> 00:21:28,224
It's a planet of storms.

324
00:21:30,594 --> 00:21:33,696
But this was astonishing.

325
00:21:33,698 --> 00:21:36,198
A bolt of lightning --

326
00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,637
a gigantic thunderstorm
on an alien world.

327
00:21:46,710 --> 00:21:47,943
Lightning creates

328
00:21:47,945 --> 00:21:51,781
some of the most spectacular
weather on Earth.

329
00:21:53,551 --> 00:21:58,320
Electrical tension builds
between the top and bottom

330
00:21:58,322 --> 00:22:02,157
of a vast 55,000-feet-high
storm cloud,

331
00:22:02,159 --> 00:22:07,596
a maelstrom of water vapor,
rain, and ice.

332
00:22:12,636 --> 00:22:18,208
Tiny ice crystals drive up
past hailstones falling down.

333
00:22:18,210 --> 00:22:23,346
As they rub past each other,
it builds up a charge.

334
00:22:23,348 --> 00:22:27,584
When the strain gets too great,
you get an electric spark.

335
00:22:37,295 --> 00:22:42,599
On Earth, the average lightning
storm stretches 15 miles.

336
00:22:42,601 --> 00:22:47,069
On Saturn, they can reach
around the whole planet.

337
00:22:48,972 --> 00:22:52,508
There are examples of lightning
storms on Jupiter and Saturn

338
00:22:52,510 --> 00:22:54,009
where the anvil cloud --

339
00:22:54,011 --> 00:22:56,445
in other words, the big cloud
at the top of the storm --

340
00:22:56,447 --> 00:23:00,248
starts small and grows
to be 20,000 kilometers long.

341
00:23:00,250 --> 00:23:01,916
That's the size of the Earth.

342
00:23:01,918 --> 00:23:05,286
On Saturn, we registered
one lightning storm

343
00:23:05,288 --> 00:23:07,388
that was 10,000 times greater

344
00:23:07,390 --> 00:23:09,890
than any lightning storm found
on the planet Earth.

345
00:23:12,462 --> 00:23:15,764
Lightning is hotter
than the surface of the Sun.

346
00:23:18,568 --> 00:23:21,771
The atmosphere
literally explodes...

347
00:23:23,075 --> 00:23:25,942
...the sound we call "thunder."

348
00:23:31,015 --> 00:23:35,252
On Earth,
it's the sound of new life.

349
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,128
Lightning seems
scary and destructive,

350
00:23:44,130 --> 00:23:46,630
but actually it's very
productive for life on Earth.

351
00:23:46,632 --> 00:23:47,797
And the reason why is

352
00:23:47,799 --> 00:23:50,434
because of its influence
on atmospheric chemistry.

353
00:23:52,136 --> 00:23:57,173
Every bolt
literally burns the air.

354
00:23:57,175 --> 00:23:59,442
When you have
a lightning discharge,

355
00:23:59,444 --> 00:24:01,577
you get this very
high-temperature,

356
00:24:01,579 --> 00:24:03,045
very energetic plasma,

357
00:24:03,047 --> 00:24:06,047
and that breaks up the nitrogen
molecules in the atmosphere,

358
00:24:06,049 --> 00:24:07,882
frees up those nitrogen atoms

359
00:24:07,884 --> 00:24:10,451
to enter into other kinds
of molecules.

360
00:24:10,453 --> 00:24:14,388
And those nitrates
formed by lightning

361
00:24:14,390 --> 00:24:16,623
allow nitrogen
to go into the soil

362
00:24:16,625 --> 00:24:18,725
as, basically, fertilizer,

363
00:24:18,727 --> 00:24:21,261
enter into plants,
enter into the life cycle.

364
00:24:21,263 --> 00:24:23,797
So, it's the lightning
that frees up nitrogen atoms

365
00:24:23,799 --> 00:24:25,331
in the service of life on Earth.

366
00:24:27,969 --> 00:24:30,003
Earth experiences

367
00:24:30,005 --> 00:24:33,039
8 million lightning bolts
every day...

368
00:24:34,977 --> 00:24:39,146
...helping life evolve
and colonize the planet.

369
00:24:47,456 --> 00:24:52,727
But for Saturn, lightning alone
may not be enough.

370
00:24:52,729 --> 00:24:56,932
There's nowhere
for alien life to live.

371
00:24:58,969 --> 00:25:03,239
One place in our solar system
may solve that problem --

372
00:25:03,241 --> 00:25:06,810
Saturn's moon Titan.

373
00:25:06,812 --> 00:25:08,411
It has an atmosphere.

374
00:25:08,413 --> 00:25:11,047
It has lakes
of liquid methane...

375
00:25:15,119 --> 00:25:18,589
....and its own bizarre brand
of megastorm.

376
00:25:32,166 --> 00:25:35,602
Saturn is
almost 900 million miles

377
00:25:35,604 --> 00:25:37,137
from the Sun.

378
00:25:37,139 --> 00:25:42,909
This far out,
orbiting the Sun takes time.

379
00:25:42,911 --> 00:25:48,282
Saturn's year
is nearly 30 Earth years long.

380
00:25:53,421 --> 00:25:57,959
Right now, it's spring,
and things are heating up.

381
00:26:01,231 --> 00:26:03,966
Now we're moving into
the summer cycle of Saturn,

382
00:26:03,968 --> 00:26:06,335
so the atmosphere
is slightly heating up.

383
00:26:06,337 --> 00:26:08,504
Even as distant as Saturn is
from the Sun,

384
00:26:08,506 --> 00:26:09,972
we've got a little more energy

385
00:26:09,974 --> 00:26:12,241
and we're seeing
the most spectacular storms

386
00:26:12,243 --> 00:26:13,709
we've ever observed on Saturn.

387
00:26:16,012 --> 00:26:18,981
After years of frozen silence,

388
00:26:18,983 --> 00:26:21,916
Saturn is coming alive.

389
00:26:21,918 --> 00:26:25,220
Scientists have waited
nearly 15 years

390
00:26:25,222 --> 00:26:29,323
for the Sun to light up
its north pole,

391
00:26:29,325 --> 00:26:32,192
to reveal extraordinary details

392
00:26:32,194 --> 00:26:34,995
about one of
the strangest megastorms

393
00:26:34,997 --> 00:26:39,633
in the solar system....

394
00:26:39,635 --> 00:26:44,538
Saturn's unique hexagon storm.

395
00:26:47,041 --> 00:26:51,011
A hexagonal pattern,
how can that be?

396
00:26:51,013 --> 00:26:53,180
In mother nature,
we have jagged objects.

397
00:26:53,182 --> 00:26:56,683
We don't have geometric figures
arranged precisely,

398
00:26:56,685 --> 00:26:59,518
especially on a gigantic
planetary scale.

399
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,354
However, there's some theories.

400
00:27:01,356 --> 00:27:03,856
If I take a bucket of water
or a bathtub

401
00:27:03,858 --> 00:27:05,391
and simply vibrate it,

402
00:27:05,393 --> 00:27:07,427
I get waves, waves that travel.

403
00:27:07,429 --> 00:27:09,729
But there's another kind
of wave.

404
00:27:09,731 --> 00:27:10,997
You have traveling waves,

405
00:27:10,999 --> 00:27:12,832
but then you have
stationary waves.

406
00:27:12,834 --> 00:27:16,136
Inside a bucket of water,
you can get resonances.

407
00:27:16,138 --> 00:27:17,805
Water pulsates like this.

408
00:27:17,807 --> 00:27:21,875
And you can also get them
to pulsate in a circle like this

409
00:27:21,877 --> 00:27:23,810
to create regular patterns.

410
00:27:23,812 --> 00:27:25,845
These are called
stationary waves,

411
00:27:25,847 --> 00:27:27,147
and we think

412
00:27:27,149 --> 00:27:29,382
that this mysterious
hexagonal pattern on Saturn

413
00:27:29,384 --> 00:27:32,719
is a hexagonal standing wave.

414
00:27:36,823 --> 00:27:40,159
The megastorm
at Saturn's north pole

415
00:27:40,161 --> 00:27:43,162
is a wind that travels
at hurricane speed,

416
00:27:43,164 --> 00:27:45,765
cornering sharply six times

417
00:27:45,767 --> 00:27:50,303
as it races 'round the planet.

418
00:27:50,305 --> 00:27:53,473
The central clearing is so big,

419
00:27:53,475 --> 00:27:57,110
you could fit
four Earths inside.

420
00:27:57,112 --> 00:28:01,181
What lies beneath its surface
is a mystery.

421
00:28:05,753 --> 00:28:08,555
As Saturn warms
from spring to summer,

422
00:28:08,557 --> 00:28:11,324
another world comes alive, too.

423
00:28:11,326 --> 00:28:18,198
One of Saturn's moons, Titan,
is warming up.

424
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,269
And with the warmth
come the storms.

425
00:28:23,838 --> 00:28:26,439
One of the most interesting
moons in our solar system

426
00:28:26,441 --> 00:28:27,574
is Titan.

427
00:28:27,576 --> 00:28:29,876
It's straight
out of science fiction.

428
00:28:29,878 --> 00:28:34,413
It's an object with yellow skies
and methane clouds

429
00:28:34,415 --> 00:28:36,449
that is truly remarkable.

430
00:28:36,451 --> 00:28:39,852
NASA's Cassini probe

431
00:28:39,854 --> 00:28:44,489
reveals Titan
in unprecedented detail...

432
00:28:44,491 --> 00:28:48,093
a thick, dense atmosphere,

433
00:28:48,095 --> 00:28:50,295
vast mountain ranges,

434
00:28:50,297 --> 00:28:54,066
lakes of liquid methane.

435
00:28:54,068 --> 00:28:57,303
And this --

436
00:28:57,305 --> 00:29:01,807
an arrow-shaped band
of white methane clouds

437
00:29:01,809 --> 00:29:03,976
moving over its surface.

438
00:29:07,180 --> 00:29:11,350
When the clouds drifted
over a dusty, open plain,

439
00:29:11,352 --> 00:29:13,619
seen here as a dark patch,

440
00:29:13,621 --> 00:29:19,525
the dark patch of ground
beneath the clouds grew larger.

441
00:29:19,527 --> 00:29:22,995
Scientists believe

442
00:29:22,997 --> 00:29:27,467
liquid methane
drenched the surface.

443
00:29:27,469 --> 00:29:31,738
A spring rainstorm, Titan style.

444
00:29:35,043 --> 00:29:36,777
Rain on Titan, if it exists,

445
00:29:36,779 --> 00:29:40,081
would be very different
from rain on the planet Earth.

446
00:29:40,083 --> 00:29:43,817
First of all, the gravitational
field is very weak,

447
00:29:43,819 --> 00:29:45,920
so you would actually see
raindrops falling

448
00:29:45,922 --> 00:29:47,655
very slowly at you.

449
00:29:47,657 --> 00:29:51,058
Also, the size of these droplets
could be much larger.

450
00:29:51,060 --> 00:29:53,861
But don't get caught
in a rainstorm on Titan.

451
00:29:53,863 --> 00:29:55,863
Those droplets are awfully cold.

452
00:29:55,865 --> 00:30:00,001
Titan's methane monsoon

453
00:30:00,003 --> 00:30:03,270
sweeps across the moon.

454
00:30:03,272 --> 00:30:08,876
Weak gravity creates ultra-cold,
hazelnut-sized raindrops.

455
00:30:08,878 --> 00:30:13,047
An alien world
with truly alien weather.

456
00:30:15,851 --> 00:30:19,487
These slow drops
have carved valleys and lakes

457
00:30:19,489 --> 00:30:22,424
much like ours on Earth,

458
00:30:22,426 --> 00:30:25,060
a slow-motion megastorm.

459
00:30:29,733 --> 00:30:33,402
But fly even farther out
through the solar system,

460
00:30:33,404 --> 00:30:36,873
and you find storms
that are altogether faster.

461
00:30:38,776 --> 00:30:43,080
This is super-chilled Neptune.

462
00:30:43,082 --> 00:30:49,386
The temperature never gets
above 300 degrees below zero.

463
00:30:49,388 --> 00:30:53,391
Neptune is one
of these giant planets.

464
00:30:53,393 --> 00:30:56,227
It's much larger than the Earth
and has a very thick atmosphere.

465
00:30:56,229 --> 00:30:58,730
It's about 2 billion miles out
from the Sun.

466
00:30:58,732 --> 00:31:00,265
So, you really might expect,

467
00:31:00,267 --> 00:31:02,267
since it's that far
from the Sun,

468
00:31:02,269 --> 00:31:04,569
it would be very cold
and not have very much weather.

469
00:31:04,571 --> 00:31:06,904
But in fact,
Neptune is very dynamic.

470
00:31:06,906 --> 00:31:09,173
It's got tremendous
weather patterns.

471
00:31:09,175 --> 00:31:13,010
Despite its incredible
distance from Earth,

472
00:31:13,012 --> 00:31:14,845
astronomers can get close

473
00:31:14,847 --> 00:31:18,915
to Neptune's
turbulent atmosphere...

474
00:31:18,917 --> 00:31:23,052
with a little help from this.

475
00:31:23,054 --> 00:31:26,189
The Keck Observatory,

476
00:31:26,191 --> 00:31:32,396
14,000 feet up on the summit
of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

477
00:31:32,398 --> 00:31:36,467
It sits above Earth's clouds
and pollution.

478
00:31:39,104 --> 00:31:42,506
The telescopes are so powerful

479
00:31:42,508 --> 00:31:46,243
they could see a candle
on the Moon.

480
00:31:50,782 --> 00:31:55,553
Neptune at first
appears featureless.

481
00:31:55,555 --> 00:32:01,058
But a closer look reveals
white, high-altitude clouds

482
00:32:01,060 --> 00:32:04,028
in the upper atmosphere.

483
00:32:04,030 --> 00:32:09,600
It's a perfect opportunity
to track wind speed.

484
00:32:09,602 --> 00:32:11,836
Measuring the time and distance

485
00:32:11,838 --> 00:32:13,904
the clouds take
between two points

486
00:32:13,906 --> 00:32:16,707
allows scientists
to clock their speed.

487
00:32:21,012 --> 00:32:24,381
The Keck telescope
swings towards Neptune.

488
00:32:24,383 --> 00:32:27,985
A series of shots
track the white clouds

489
00:32:27,987 --> 00:32:31,489
as they move around the planet.

490
00:32:31,491 --> 00:32:34,459
So, here we can take
several photographs

491
00:32:34,461 --> 00:32:38,563
that show the positions
of clouds apparently changing.

492
00:32:38,565 --> 00:32:41,100
You can measure the position
at one moment to be there

493
00:32:41,102 --> 00:32:43,001
and at another time
a few hours later

494
00:32:43,003 --> 00:32:44,303
to be in a different place.

495
00:32:44,305 --> 00:32:46,504
Now, most of that change
in position

496
00:32:46,506 --> 00:32:49,307
is due to the rotation
of the planet as a whole.

497
00:32:49,309 --> 00:32:51,809
However, if you know
the rotation rate

498
00:32:51,811 --> 00:32:53,244
and subtract that out,

499
00:32:53,246 --> 00:32:55,779
that gives you
the motion of the clouds

500
00:32:55,781 --> 00:32:57,014
relative to the planet.

501
00:32:57,016 --> 00:32:58,548
That tells you the wind speed.

502
00:32:58,550 --> 00:33:02,419
The results are shocking.

503
00:33:02,421 --> 00:33:04,487
We're seeing
wind speeds on Neptune

504
00:33:04,489 --> 00:33:07,557
of many hundreds
of miles per hour

505
00:33:07,559 --> 00:33:10,995
up to 1,200
or even 1,260 miles per hour

506
00:33:10,997 --> 00:33:13,498
for the very fastest clouds.

507
00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:15,800
That's really phenomenal.

508
00:33:15,802 --> 00:33:21,407
Neptune has the fastest winds
in the solar system.

509
00:33:24,211 --> 00:33:25,711
So, what's driving this?

510
00:33:25,713 --> 00:33:29,381
You need energy to make weather.
Where's that energy coming from?

511
00:33:29,383 --> 00:33:31,750
And it turns out
it's coming from Neptune itself.

512
00:33:31,752 --> 00:33:33,685
It does receive sunlight,

513
00:33:33,687 --> 00:33:37,455
but Neptune actually radiates
away more energy --

514
00:33:37,457 --> 00:33:39,524
a lot more energy
than it gets from the Sun,

515
00:33:39,526 --> 00:33:42,026
which means
the interior is very hot.

516
00:33:42,028 --> 00:33:45,296
Probably it means there's
radioactive material in there,

517
00:33:45,298 --> 00:33:46,564
there's leftover heat

518
00:33:46,566 --> 00:33:49,366
from when Neptune formed
4.5 billion years ago

519
00:33:49,368 --> 00:33:51,368
that's very slowly leaking out.

520
00:33:51,370 --> 00:33:54,004
And it's that
that's heating up the air

521
00:33:54,006 --> 00:33:55,772
and driving
all of this circulation

522
00:33:55,774 --> 00:33:58,008
and all of this crazy weather
that Neptune has.

523
00:33:58,010 --> 00:34:03,480
Neptune's storms hit hard.

524
00:34:06,950 --> 00:34:10,219
But the search
for truly extreme weather

525
00:34:10,221 --> 00:34:13,622
takes us out of the solar system
altogether

526
00:34:13,624 --> 00:34:18,059
into uncharted territory.

527
00:34:18,061 --> 00:34:20,662
Out here, there are storms

528
00:34:20,664 --> 00:34:25,833
that make even Neptune's winds
look like a breeze.

529
00:34:25,835 --> 00:34:29,170
Katrina was just a sneeze

530
00:34:29,172 --> 00:34:32,240
compared to the winds we have
on Osiris.

531
00:34:32,242 --> 00:34:35,442
The search for megastorms

532
00:34:35,444 --> 00:34:38,546
leads to alien worlds

533
00:34:38,548 --> 00:34:41,482
whose violence
defies imagination.

534
00:34:56,850 --> 00:35:02,322
Space is full
of stars and planets

535
00:35:02,324 --> 00:35:06,660
where violence and chaos reign.

536
00:35:15,136 --> 00:35:19,039
Astronomers scour the skies
for new worlds.

537
00:35:19,041 --> 00:35:21,775
And the king
of the planet hunters

538
00:35:21,777 --> 00:35:25,278
is Professor Geoff Marcy.

539
00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:26,746
He scans the night sky

540
00:35:26,748 --> 00:35:31,251
seeking new worlds
around distant stars.

541
00:35:34,756 --> 00:35:39,960
Marcy's team
has instruments so sensitive

542
00:35:39,962 --> 00:35:41,862
they can even predict
the weather

543
00:35:41,864 --> 00:35:43,197
on these distant planets.

544
00:35:47,769 --> 00:35:50,671
This is Osiris,

545
00:35:50,673 --> 00:35:55,310
150 light-years from Earth,

546
00:35:55,312 --> 00:36:02,184
a planet from hell
with matching weather.

547
00:36:02,186 --> 00:36:06,622
Earth is 93 million miles
from the Sun.

548
00:36:06,624 --> 00:36:11,294
It orbits the Sun in one year.

549
00:36:11,296 --> 00:36:16,533
But Osiris is just 4 million
miles from its star.

550
00:36:16,535 --> 00:36:21,738
Its year races by
in just 3½ days.

551
00:36:21,740 --> 00:36:26,343
When Osiris passes
between us and its star,

552
00:36:26,345 --> 00:36:30,046
starlight briefly shines
through its atmosphere,

553
00:36:30,048 --> 00:36:35,451
giving us a glimpse of
conditions on the alien world.

554
00:36:35,453 --> 00:36:40,924
And they waited until the planet
was in front of the star.

555
00:36:40,926 --> 00:36:43,827
At that moment,
some of the starlight

556
00:36:43,829 --> 00:36:47,430
passed through the atmosphere
of the planet.

557
00:36:47,432 --> 00:36:50,699
They were able to do
essentially a chemical assay,

558
00:36:50,701 --> 00:36:52,301
a chemical assessment

559
00:36:52,303 --> 00:36:56,138
of the composition
of this atmosphere.

560
00:36:58,741 --> 00:37:04,279
Osiris gets blasted
by the intense heat of its star.

561
00:37:04,281 --> 00:37:08,316
Temperatures top 2,000 degrees.

562
00:37:11,121 --> 00:37:13,522
Now, what that means is

563
00:37:13,524 --> 00:37:17,960
that the environment
on that planet is,

564
00:37:17,962 --> 00:37:20,363
well, hideous
for life as we know it.

565
00:37:20,365 --> 00:37:25,402
But even more, the intense heat
causes the gases to expand,

566
00:37:25,404 --> 00:37:30,607
and they have no place to go
but the backside of the planet.

567
00:37:30,609 --> 00:37:33,944
Osiris is tidally locked.

568
00:37:33,946 --> 00:37:38,348
The same side of the planet
always faces the star.

569
00:37:38,350 --> 00:37:42,085
The other looks out into space.

570
00:37:42,087 --> 00:37:44,821
The temperature difference
is immense.

571
00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:51,828
Superheated atmosphere roars

572
00:37:51,830 --> 00:37:54,197
from the bright side
of the planet to the dark

573
00:37:54,199 --> 00:37:59,168
at nearly six times
the speed of sound.

574
00:37:59,170 --> 00:38:00,870
In fact, the winds

575
00:38:00,872 --> 00:38:05,041
will be something like 2,000
or 3,000 miles per hour,

576
00:38:05,043 --> 00:38:07,978
enormous speeds
of these winds --

577
00:38:07,980 --> 00:38:11,248
10 times, 20 times faster
wind speeds

578
00:38:11,250 --> 00:38:13,784
than the strongest hurricanes.

579
00:38:13,786 --> 00:38:16,087
Katrina was just a sneeze

580
00:38:16,089 --> 00:38:19,823
compared to the winds we have
on Osiris.

581
00:38:22,260 --> 00:38:25,996
Osiris is a brutal world,

582
00:38:25,998 --> 00:38:27,865
too hot and too violent

583
00:38:27,867 --> 00:38:30,634
for any kind of life
we could imagine.

584
00:38:38,243 --> 00:38:42,079
But there are
even larger megastorms,

585
00:38:42,081 --> 00:38:45,984
storms on the scale
of whole galaxies.

586
00:38:57,696 --> 00:39:02,767
And these fast storms may be
the reason any of us are here.

587
00:39:07,138 --> 00:39:11,042
The Hubble Space Telescope
captured this stunning image

588
00:39:11,044 --> 00:39:15,280
of the Galaxy NGC 3079.

589
00:39:18,384 --> 00:39:21,786
At its center, a super wind --

590
00:39:21,788 --> 00:39:26,124
a storm on a truly cosmic scale.

591
00:39:29,062 --> 00:39:34,166
It was triggered by an explosion
from a forming star.

592
00:39:34,168 --> 00:39:39,505
This raging galactic storm
is about 3,000 light-years wide.

593
00:39:39,507 --> 00:39:43,508
It has already raged
for around one million years.

594
00:39:43,510 --> 00:39:48,613
Filaments
of 20 million-degree gas

595
00:39:48,615 --> 00:39:51,283
tower above the spiral galaxy.

596
00:39:53,687 --> 00:39:56,822
This cosmic megastorm

597
00:39:56,824 --> 00:40:01,125
wreaks havoc
within its host galaxy.

598
00:40:01,127 --> 00:40:03,094
We see bubbles and jets

599
00:40:03,096 --> 00:40:06,063
and formations of gas
falling into the galaxy,

600
00:40:06,065 --> 00:40:10,134
colliding with galactic dust.

601
00:40:10,136 --> 00:40:13,637
The gas from
the galactic megastorm

602
00:40:13,639 --> 00:40:17,575
smashes into gas and dust
at the heart of the galaxy

603
00:40:17,577 --> 00:40:22,113
and compresses it
into a swirling mass of matter.

604
00:40:26,352 --> 00:40:29,487
Gravity takes over.

605
00:40:29,489 --> 00:40:31,890
The compressed clouds
of gas and dust

606
00:40:31,892 --> 00:40:34,293
get tighter and tighter.

607
00:40:34,295 --> 00:40:37,863
The center
gets hotter and hotter.

608
00:40:37,865 --> 00:40:39,698
Finally, it ignites.

609
00:40:41,567 --> 00:40:45,938
Powerful winds from the new star
blast into space.

610
00:40:45,940 --> 00:40:50,277
The whole cycle
begins over again,

611
00:40:50,279 --> 00:40:53,813
and a new galactic megastorm
is born.

612
00:40:53,815 --> 00:40:57,918
Around the fledgling stars,

613
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:02,323
dust and rock come together,

614
00:41:02,325 --> 00:41:04,525
the birth of new worlds

615
00:41:04,527 --> 00:41:09,063
with rocky surfaces
where life could begin.

616
00:41:09,065 --> 00:41:11,465
And perhaps
the formation of life itself

617
00:41:11,467 --> 00:41:12,900
may be determined

618
00:41:12,902 --> 00:41:17,004
by how these gases swirl and
create super-galactic storms.

619
00:41:17,006 --> 00:41:19,740
And if you have
galactic winds churning away,

620
00:41:19,742 --> 00:41:21,909
then that would help
to distribute

621
00:41:21,911 --> 00:41:25,813
the elements necessary for life
throughout the galaxy.

622
00:41:25,815 --> 00:41:28,616
So, galactic storms may,
in some sense,

623
00:41:28,618 --> 00:41:31,719
be one clue to the formation
of life itself.

624
00:41:34,389 --> 00:41:39,293
Galactic megastorms
rage for millions of years.

625
00:41:41,262 --> 00:41:42,696
Billions of years ago,

626
00:41:42,698 --> 00:41:45,198
they may have created
new homes for life

627
00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:48,034
in our Milky Way galaxy.

628
00:41:50,004 --> 00:41:55,274
On every scale, storms are not
just a force of destruction.

629
00:41:55,276 --> 00:41:58,644
They are linked
to creation itself.

630
00:41:58,646 --> 00:42:00,546
The search for life
on other worlds

631
00:42:00,548 --> 00:42:04,016
is also the search for storms.

632
00:42:04,018 --> 00:42:05,918
When you disrupt the status quo,

633
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,186
you open all kinds
of possibilities

634
00:42:08,188 --> 00:42:10,889
for things to reassemble
in different ways.

635
00:42:10,891 --> 00:42:14,726
So, chaos or disruption
is actually an important factor

636
00:42:14,728 --> 00:42:18,096
in the development
of complex systems like life.

637
00:42:18,098 --> 00:42:22,367
A planet that might have
changes of seasons,

638
00:42:22,369 --> 00:42:24,903
vulcanism, intense storms,

639
00:42:24,905 --> 00:42:26,404
some environmental factors

640
00:42:26,406 --> 00:42:29,073
that you might think
could be damaging to life,

641
00:42:29,075 --> 00:42:32,210
in the long run
makes life stronger.

642
00:42:36,381 --> 00:42:38,516
Earth has storms.

643
00:42:38,518 --> 00:42:41,986
Other worlds have megastorms.

644
00:42:41,988 --> 00:42:44,855
Whether it's lightning
on Saturn,

645
00:42:44,857 --> 00:42:48,325
the turbulent atmosphere
of Jupiter,

646
00:42:48,327 --> 00:42:52,764
or blistering temperatures
on Osiris,

647
00:42:52,766 --> 00:42:57,768
vast, violent,
and deadly megastorms

648
00:42:57,770 --> 00:42:59,876
could also be
the catalyst for life.