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In the beginning,
there was darkness...
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and then, bang...
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giving birth to an endless
expanding existence...
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00:00:09,259 --> 00:00:11,802
of time, space, and matter.
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00:00:11,845 --> 00:00:14,096
Now, see further
than we've ever imagined...
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00:00:14,139 --> 00:00:16,015
beyond the limits of our existence...
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00:00:16,057 --> 00:00:18,892
in a place we call "The Universe. "
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00:00:21,396 --> 00:00:24,565
What if the forecast
predicted high winds...
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00:00:24,607 --> 00:00:26,942
ten times the speed of sound?
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00:00:31,322 --> 00:00:34,616
An evening downpour
of sulfuric acid rain...
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or a hurricane two times
the size of Earth lasting 300 years?
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00:00:47,422 --> 00:00:50,257
This is not the stuff
of a science fiction movie.
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These are actual weather reports
from around the universe...
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and it's Earth's weather
to the extreme.
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We are counting down
some of the biggest, baddest...
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weirdest, and wildest weather
the universe creates.
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Fasten your seatbelts.
It's going to be a bumpy ride.
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This is "The Universe:
Wildest Weather in the Cosmos. "
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Weather is the state
of an atmosphere.
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We might think we've got it bad
on the third planet from the Sun...
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with vicious thunderstorms...
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oppressive heat...
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and temperatures so low,
they're sometimes unbearable.
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00:02:05,208 --> 00:02:07,626
But weather here
is a walk in the park...
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compared to weather
elsewhere in the universe.
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Rain, wind, and storms take on
a whole new and strange meaning.
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And while the mechanics
that power these weather events...
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are strangely similar to Earth's...
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the results are terrifying
to contemplate.
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It's 900 degrees Fahrenheit
on Venus...
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hotter than a pizza oven
every day.
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Mars is bone-dry
and colder than ice-cold.
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You've got lightning...
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00:03:00,930 --> 00:03:02,514
you've got storms.
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00:03:03,641 --> 00:03:06,727
All those weather phenomena
are ultimately driven...
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by the fact that
the temperature differences...
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created by uneven input
of sunlight...
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are going to cause motions
in the atmosphere.
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Perhaps the answers
to Earth's ultimate fate...
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lie in the great unknown of space.
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And we are counting down
the most extreme weather...
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the universe has to offer.
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You want to learn about which way
our planet can turn climatically?
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Have a look
at some neighboring planets...
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within our own solar system.
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Scientists know all weather
starts with one thing: Heat.
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Heat is a catalyst
that creates winds.
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And there are winds
on other planets...
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unlike anything Mother Earth
has ever seen.
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Jupiter is a monster planet.
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If you add up
all the planets together...
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they would not total
the gigantic planet called Jupiter.
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Jupiter is the planetary amusement park...
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when it comes
to windy conditions.
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Jet streams on Jupiter
are pretty cool.
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Here on Earth,
we, roughly speaking...
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have about one jet stream
per hemisphere.
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Jupiter's different.
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Jupiter has
about thirty jet streams.
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These are associated
with the cloud bands.
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Jupiter's jet streams
rip around the planet...
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running in opposite directions.
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Defined by different colors
invisible on its surface...
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these jet streams tear around...
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Jupiter's astounding
1,000-mile-thick atmosphere.
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Earth, in comparison,
has only a fewjet streams...
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00:05:19,736 --> 00:05:22,696
and an atmosphere
only 100 miles thick.
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But why so many jet streams,
and why winds at all on a planet...
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that doesn't even get a quarter
of the sunlight as Earth?
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One theory suggests these winds
are a direct result...
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of this hot planet
just trying to cool itself off.
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Jupiter is a huge planet,
over 300 Earth masses.
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And it formed with a huge,
huge amount of heat.
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And it's so big that it's still trying
to get rid of this heat of formation.
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This constant release of heat slowly
rises into Jupiter's atmosphere...
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and collides with cooler air.
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Like Earth and her need to balance
hot and cold streams of air...
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in high and low-pressure systems...
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Jupiter also struggles
for normalcy.
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That energy band is used to drive
the various storms and winds...
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in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter.
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The jet streams on Jupiter
are really ferocious.
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They go at several hundred
miles per hour...
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and there's a lot of gas
zipping along this stream.
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But unlike on Earth,
the jet streams are pretty stable.
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On Earth,
it's rare for surface winds...
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to reach over 200 miles per hour.
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Jet streams on Jupiter
reach speeds...
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exceeding up to
about 300 miles per hour.
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That's really fast.
And you can't get out.
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You're trapped
inside the jet stream.
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Traveling through Jupiter's
equatorial jet stream...
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would be like
a roller coaster ride from hell.
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It's like this continuous,
never-ending roller coaster ride.
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I love it!
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What a thrill!
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You would be pushed up and down
by up to a hundred miles.
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- This is huge.
- Oh, man.
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It would lead to a much
greater change in pressure...
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than going from the Earth's surface
up to the top of Mount Everest.
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Jupiter's jet streams
are pretty impressive...
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but 300 miles per hour is nothing
compared to our next planet.
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At first glance,
Neptune is the last place...
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scientists expect to find wild weather,
let alone vicious winds.
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Heat is not in abundance
on this chilly planet.
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Neptune is frigid, frigid cold.
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Neptune only absorbs 0. 1 percent
of the sunlight that Earth does.
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Up until 1989, Neptune was
considered, well, boring.
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Sitting far away from the Sun
and having an orbit of 165 years...
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scientists didn't believe much was
to be discovered on the blue planet.
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A visit from Voyager ll
changed all that.
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As the orbiter
zoomed past the planet...
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scientists were shocked
to discover traces of clouds.
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Most surprising, these clouds
were traveling around Neptune...
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at ferocious speeds.
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Something was carrying them.
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But wind,
so far away from the Sun?
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Neptune is the windiest planet
in the solar system.
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Winds blow on the surface of Neptune
over 1,000 miles per hour.
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Imagine that,
breaking the sound barrier...
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every time you simply look up
and the winds blow past you.
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Scientists estimate winds reach
up to 1,500 miles per hour...
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depending on weather conditions
and storms that develop.
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A major unsolved puzzle
in our solar system...
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is the fact that
the wind speeds on Neptune...
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are actually much faster
than those on Jupiter...
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despite the fact
that Neptune receives...
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only maybe four percent
of the sunlight that Jupiter does.
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This lack of sunlight or heat...
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completely contradicts
what scientists know...
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about how winds develop
here on Earth.
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You might think that
the stronger the sunlight...
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the stronger
the winds would be.
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00:10:24,206 --> 00:10:27,459
This is obviously not true
when comparing Earth to Neptune...
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since Earth's winds are typically
maybe thirty miles per hour...
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whereas those on Neptune
reach 900 miles per hour.
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Scientists suspect there is
internal heat left over...
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from Neptune's formation
billions of years ago...
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but are perplexed
how this internal heat...
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could be enough to drive winds
to this speed.
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00:10:53,736 --> 00:10:56,655
There's twice as much heat
getting out of Neptune...
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as what the Sun is putting in.
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00:10:58,991 --> 00:11:03,745
However, that's not enough to explain
the tremendous winds of Neptune.
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00:11:07,625 --> 00:11:10,210
And science has come up
with another hypothesis...
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for Neptune's racing winds.
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A lack of friction
might allow these winds...
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to fly uninhibited
around the planet.
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00:11:18,636 --> 00:11:21,971
We can be very thankful
that there's friction on Earth.
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00:11:24,433 --> 00:11:25,684
Friction comes
about when the winds...
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are banging into things
like trees and buildings...
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00:11:28,771 --> 00:11:30,647
and terrain like mountains...
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00:11:32,024 --> 00:11:34,818
so friction ends up
slowing down the winds.
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Like other gas giants,
Neptune has no solid surface.
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Even though the sunlight
is extremely weak...
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if the friction
is also extremely weak...
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then you can build up
very fast winds over time.
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Neptune's winds are the most
impressive in our solar system...
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but the universe is a big place.
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And what is a champion here
pales in comparison...
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to weather further out in space.
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Perhaps the most exciting discovery
in planetary science...
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are the most amazing winds
we could hope to never experience.
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If you want to experience
the wildest winds in the cosmos...
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00:12:35,504 --> 00:12:39,299
then hot Jupiters
are your destination.
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Hot Jupiters are a class
of exoplanets.
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It's definitely not a place
you want to be.
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It's much, much worse
than Neptune.
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It's much hotter.
The winds are much faster.
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So, if you want a nice kind
of calm place to set up shop...
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you'd probably be better off
going with Neptune.
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These guys are definitely
much, much worse.
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00:13:02,573 --> 00:13:05,575
Hot Jupiters orbit tightly
around their stars...
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far closer than Mercury
to our own Sun.
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And all that intense heat
makes for some wild weather.
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For comparison, it gets about
20,000 times more light...
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from its star
than Jupiter does from the Sun.
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The temperatures
on these planets are enormous...
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between 1,500 and 2,000 degrees
Fahrenheit or more.
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Some hot Jupiters
are tidally locked...
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a gravitational effect that leads them
to show the same face...
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to their star at all times.
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You've got one side of this planet...
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that's being just blasted with
light from the star all the time.
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So you would expect
that to be very, very hot.
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But at the same time, you've got
this night side of the planet...
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that never sees any light
from the star.
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So, you know, perhaps
that night side is actually quite cold.
188
00:14:05,094 --> 00:14:07,136
Taking hot Jupiters' temperatures...
189
00:14:07,179 --> 00:14:10,265
scientists measured how much light
is eclipsed from the planet...
190
00:14:10,307 --> 00:14:15,103
as it passes in front of
and behind its star during its orbit.
191
00:14:15,145 --> 00:14:18,731
So they actually glow relatively
brightly at infrared wavelength.
192
00:14:21,652 --> 00:14:24,028
So if you want to take
the temperature of a planet...
193
00:14:24,071 --> 00:14:25,655
you want to look
at these infrared wavelengths.
194
00:14:25,698 --> 00:14:27,532
You want to measure the heat
that they're giving off.
195
00:14:29,827 --> 00:14:31,244
But the temperature difference...
196
00:14:31,287 --> 00:14:33,413
between the day side
and night side...
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is virtually the same.
198
00:14:35,875 --> 00:14:39,460
This was astounding,
considering the extreme situation.
199
00:14:40,462 --> 00:14:42,505
Something was
transferring the heat...
200
00:14:42,548 --> 00:14:45,174
from the day side
to the night side.
201
00:14:45,217 --> 00:14:46,217
But what?
202
00:14:49,096 --> 00:14:52,807
Winds traveling at amazing speeds
were the answer.
203
00:14:53,601 --> 00:14:55,101
And so our models tell us...
204
00:14:55,144 --> 00:14:58,605
that the winds could be as fast
as maybe 6,000 miles per hour.
205
00:14:58,647 --> 00:15:01,608
The 6,000-mile-per-hour winds
inferred on some hot Jupiters...
206
00:15:01,650 --> 00:15:05,028
is much faster than any winds
that we know of in our solar system.
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00:15:06,697 --> 00:15:09,782
How fast
is 6,000 miles per hour?
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00:15:09,825 --> 00:15:11,659
At that speed, you could travel...
209
00:15:11,702 --> 00:15:14,704
fom New York to Los Angeles
in twenty minutes.
210
00:15:17,499 --> 00:15:19,667
You've got
this incredibly hot day side.
211
00:15:19,710 --> 00:15:22,253
And so you've got all this hot gas
sitting there on the day side...
212
00:15:22,296 --> 00:15:23,588
and sort of what it wants to do...
213
00:15:23,631 --> 00:15:25,632
is to kind of go rushing around
to the night side.
214
00:15:27,343 --> 00:15:29,135
Winds are created by hot air...
215
00:15:29,178 --> 00:15:32,805
wanting to travel
to the cold side of the planet.
216
00:15:32,848 --> 00:15:35,224
So it's a little bit like a windsurfer.
217
00:15:36,727 --> 00:15:39,312
If you come out here on a windy day
and you put your sail up...
218
00:15:39,355 --> 00:15:40,438
you can really catch
a good breeze...
219
00:15:40,481 --> 00:15:42,607
and you can go flying
across the harbor.
220
00:15:44,944 --> 00:15:46,152
It's the same thing
with these planets.
221
00:15:46,195 --> 00:15:48,279
You have
such incredibly strong winds...
222
00:15:48,322 --> 00:15:49,822
that they can really
just pick that gas up...
223
00:15:49,865 --> 00:15:51,491
and whip it all the way around
to the night side...
224
00:15:51,533 --> 00:15:53,743
before it even cools off at all.
225
00:15:55,704 --> 00:15:57,080
It's hard to beat weather like that.
226
00:15:57,122 --> 00:15:58,414
Six thousand-mile-an-hour winds...
227
00:15:58,457 --> 00:16:00,458
is about as crazy
as you can get with a planet.
228
00:16:03,379 --> 00:16:06,381
Scientists have learned
to expect the unexpected...
229
00:16:06,423 --> 00:16:08,758
when it comes to weather in space.
230
00:16:13,389 --> 00:16:17,850
Sometimes winds
become storms like tornadoes.
231
00:16:17,893 --> 00:16:20,603
And galactic tornadoes
are unpredictable...
232
00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:23,147
and behave in rather weird ways.
233
00:16:32,408 --> 00:16:37,245
Recently, a tornado of epic proportions
was discovered in space.
234
00:16:41,750 --> 00:16:45,128
This space tornado
is a Herbig-Haro object...
235
00:16:45,170 --> 00:16:48,965
created by winds as the result
of a forming star.
236
00:16:51,969 --> 00:16:55,471
A Herbig-Haro object
is a glowing cloud of gas...
237
00:16:57,933 --> 00:17:01,686
produced when
a high-speed jet of gas...
238
00:17:01,729 --> 00:17:06,315
smashes into surrounding,
essentially, stationary gas.
239
00:17:07,484 --> 00:17:10,778
So this high-speed jet
heats the stationary gas...
240
00:17:10,821 --> 00:17:12,488
and causes it to glow.
241
00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:21,748
This object would
easily be number one...
242
00:17:21,790 --> 00:17:24,751
on the list of wildest tornadoes
in the universe...
243
00:17:24,793 --> 00:17:28,212
except for one important fact.
244
00:17:28,255 --> 00:17:30,423
It's not actually a tornado.
245
00:17:30,466 --> 00:17:32,633
Its shape is very suggestive
of a tornado.
246
00:17:33,635 --> 00:17:35,595
It has this helical shape to it...
247
00:17:35,637 --> 00:17:37,305
that looks like
it is twisting along...
248
00:17:37,347 --> 00:17:41,225
but it's actually not a rotating object
like a tornado.
249
00:17:43,687 --> 00:17:45,396
Unlike a tornado on Earth...
250
00:17:45,439 --> 00:17:48,566
where a vortex of wind
creates a conical shape...
251
00:17:48,609 --> 00:17:51,444
this tornado is created
by magnetic forces...
252
00:17:51,487 --> 00:17:54,155
creating a wake of cosmic dust
and particles.
253
00:17:55,657 --> 00:18:00,161
This one appears to have
sort of a spiral shape within it.
254
00:18:00,204 --> 00:18:03,081
And that's really kind of weird
because most of the others...
255
00:18:03,123 --> 00:18:05,666
really don't have
the spiral pattern.
256
00:18:07,127 --> 00:18:10,630
But the cause of the spin
is probably different...
257
00:18:10,672 --> 00:18:13,049
from that of a tornado on Earth.
258
00:18:19,556 --> 00:18:21,808
Number two
on the galactic tornado list...
259
00:18:21,850 --> 00:18:24,769
is much more like tornadoes
we find at home...
260
00:18:24,812 --> 00:18:27,480
and it's a towering presence.
261
00:18:33,654 --> 00:18:36,072
They're called dust devils...
262
00:18:36,115 --> 00:18:40,034
and they are Mars' answer
to a planetary tornado.
263
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:48,334
Dust storms on Mars
are pretty cool.
264
00:18:48,377 --> 00:18:52,130
There are thousands of local storms
that occur every Mars year...
265
00:18:52,172 --> 00:18:54,090
meaning dust clouds
that are opaque...
266
00:18:54,133 --> 00:18:56,384
and maybe tens to hundreds
of miles across...
267
00:18:56,426 --> 00:18:57,718
and a few miles tall.
268
00:18:58,762 --> 00:19:01,222
Often referred to
as the Red Planet...
269
00:19:01,265 --> 00:19:05,017
Mars is a dusty
and dismal place.
270
00:19:05,060 --> 00:19:08,229
Its surface
is covered by sand.
271
00:19:08,272 --> 00:19:11,274
Apparently, there is
no liquid water on the surface.
272
00:19:12,901 --> 00:19:17,989
And in this dusty terrain,
when the Sun rises, trouble starts.
273
00:19:20,659 --> 00:19:23,035
Dust devils can be
hundreds of yards wide...
274
00:19:23,078 --> 00:19:24,996
and half a mile or more tall...
275
00:19:25,038 --> 00:19:28,332
spinning seventy miles an hour
across the surface...
276
00:19:28,375 --> 00:19:32,712
and they have similarities
to Earth's own tornadoes.
277
00:19:32,754 --> 00:19:35,548
As far as the basic forces
inside a dust devil...
278
00:19:35,591 --> 00:19:37,592
they're pretty similar
to in a tornado.
279
00:19:37,634 --> 00:19:42,305
They're both thin vortices that rotate
and are low-pressure centers.
280
00:19:42,347 --> 00:19:44,557
Yet a tornado
is much, much stronger...
281
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,602
often by an order of magnitude
in wind speed.
282
00:19:54,109 --> 00:19:57,278
The power of a tornado
is undeniable.
283
00:20:05,120 --> 00:20:08,206
And scientists
at Iowa State University...
284
00:20:08,248 --> 00:20:11,250
can't seem to get enough
of these violent storms.
285
00:20:13,670 --> 00:20:18,132
Here they have built the largest
tornado simulator in the world...
286
00:20:18,175 --> 00:20:20,343
to understand vortex formation.
287
00:20:28,518 --> 00:20:32,480
Understanding the power of a tornado
on a small scale here...
288
00:20:32,522 --> 00:20:35,358
might lead scientists
to understand these beasts...
289
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:38,152
on a grander
or even galactic scale.
290
00:20:39,947 --> 00:20:43,324
Scientists use dry ice
and packing peanuts...
291
00:20:43,367 --> 00:20:45,451
to observe vortex behavior.
292
00:20:46,245 --> 00:20:49,413
We have a six-foot-diameter fan
on top of me, as you can see...
293
00:20:49,456 --> 00:20:50,873
which produces the suction.
294
00:20:50,916 --> 00:20:54,585
And the flow goes up and comes
through the outer duct...
295
00:20:54,628 --> 00:20:56,170
and it's rotating.
296
00:20:56,213 --> 00:20:58,089
And then the flow converges
to the center...
297
00:20:58,131 --> 00:21:00,841
and again goes up.
And as it's going up...
298
00:21:00,884 --> 00:21:04,887
it produces the vortex
of a certain size, which we can control.
299
00:21:09,226 --> 00:21:11,894
Combined, these elements
perfectly mimic...
300
00:21:11,937 --> 00:21:13,354
the formation of a vortex...
301
00:21:13,397 --> 00:21:17,066
as it swells from its base
and grows to a funnel.
302
00:21:20,487 --> 00:21:23,698
Scientists know that,
just like tornadoes on Earth...
303
00:21:23,740 --> 00:21:26,701
dust devils form
from the ground up.
304
00:21:29,454 --> 00:21:32,248
Sunlight comes down
and heats up the surface...
305
00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:35,668
and that heat
needs to be convected away...
306
00:21:35,711 --> 00:21:37,503
by hot blobs of air.
307
00:21:37,546 --> 00:21:41,507
As these hot blobs move away
from the surface, air is drawn in.
308
00:21:41,550 --> 00:21:44,010
And just like an ice skater
pulling in her arms...
309
00:21:44,052 --> 00:21:47,263
that air spins up,
moving faster and faster...
310
00:21:47,306 --> 00:21:48,681
and with those higher speeds...
311
00:21:48,724 --> 00:21:50,850
kicks dust
up into the atmosphere.
312
00:21:50,892 --> 00:21:53,853
As this hot blob of air
moves away from the surface...
313
00:21:53,895 --> 00:21:56,230
the dust devil will become
taller and stronger...
314
00:21:56,273 --> 00:21:58,733
reaching altitudes of several
hundred meters or more...
315
00:21:58,775 --> 00:22:01,027
and widths of typically
a hundred meters...
316
00:22:01,069 --> 00:22:02,445
and will get stronger...
317
00:22:02,487 --> 00:22:05,531
as dust continues
to be injected into its interior.
318
00:22:05,574 --> 00:22:08,743
And then, the dust devil
will move off into the distance.
319
00:22:11,747 --> 00:22:14,040
However,
if a future space colonist...
320
00:22:14,082 --> 00:22:16,208
was trapped
in a Mars dust devil...
321
00:22:16,251 --> 00:22:18,169
it wouldn't be fatal.
322
00:22:18,211 --> 00:22:20,338
The atmosphere on Mars
is very thin...
323
00:22:20,380 --> 00:22:23,632
so the wind could be blowing on you,
and you'd barely feel it.
324
00:22:25,010 --> 00:22:27,386
The pressure on you
would be relatively low...
325
00:22:27,429 --> 00:22:29,013
so you're not going to say,
"Oh, what was that?
326
00:22:29,056 --> 00:22:30,848
"I just got bowled over
by a dust devil. "
327
00:22:30,891 --> 00:22:32,224
That's not going to happen.
328
00:22:38,065 --> 00:22:43,444
The final galactic tornado event
on the countdown is a true mystery.
329
00:22:43,487 --> 00:22:48,741
And it turns theories behind
tornado formation upside down.
330
00:23:05,092 --> 00:23:08,803
The final tornado on the countdown
is double trouble.
331
00:23:18,105 --> 00:23:21,148
Venus, once viewed
as a romantic planet...
332
00:23:21,191 --> 00:23:24,318
has some truly horrific
weather conditions.
333
00:23:29,116 --> 00:23:32,952
Oppressive heat with
a greenhouse effect gone amok...
334
00:23:32,994 --> 00:23:37,248
this is one planet that is
constantly trying to cool itself off...
335
00:23:37,290 --> 00:23:38,874
with no success.
336
00:23:44,172 --> 00:23:48,050
Venus is
a fascinatingly hostile place.
337
00:23:51,012 --> 00:23:53,681
It's so hostile that even
our machines that we send there...
338
00:23:53,723 --> 00:23:57,393
they work for, like, a few minutes,
and then the components melt.
339
00:23:59,271 --> 00:24:04,275
As a result of this constant heat,
storms are always present on Venus...
340
00:24:04,317 --> 00:24:09,613
and this makes for one of the most
interesting vortex events ever observed.
341
00:24:09,656 --> 00:24:14,368
There's a giant,
upside down, twin tornado...
342
00:24:14,411 --> 00:24:16,745
permanently existing
at the pole of Venus.
343
00:24:18,206 --> 00:24:21,000
Ever since the Venus Express
Orbiter sent back...
344
00:24:21,042 --> 00:24:22,960
magnificent images of Venus...
345
00:24:23,003 --> 00:24:26,672
scientists have struggled
to understand the twin vortexes...
346
00:24:26,715 --> 00:24:30,301
running upside down
at her south polar region.
347
00:24:30,343 --> 00:24:32,761
In a sense,
it's an upside down tornado...
348
00:24:32,804 --> 00:24:36,515
because the air is funneling
from the top part of that spiral...
349
00:24:36,558 --> 00:24:38,225
down towards the ground...
350
00:24:38,268 --> 00:24:40,519
whereas a typical tornado
on Earth...
351
00:24:40,562 --> 00:24:43,689
you think of the air kind of rising
up through the funnel.
352
00:24:43,732 --> 00:24:46,525
And the strange thing
is that it's a double vortex.
353
00:24:46,568 --> 00:24:48,360
That is,
picture two giant tornadoes...
354
00:24:48,403 --> 00:24:50,112
sort of rotating
around each other.
355
00:24:50,155 --> 00:24:53,824
And you can see the two lobes,
the two halves of it here.
356
00:24:57,662 --> 00:24:59,788
Scientists believe the vortexes...
357
00:24:59,831 --> 00:25:02,708
are a result of heat transfer
in the atmosphere.
358
00:25:02,751 --> 00:25:05,085
Heat rises at Venus' equator...
359
00:25:05,128 --> 00:25:08,088
then sinks at the coolest section
of the planet.
360
00:25:08,131 --> 00:25:10,799
Like a bathtub draining,
where the water is-
361
00:25:10,842 --> 00:25:12,927
That flow is concentrated
on the drain...
362
00:25:12,969 --> 00:25:15,304
and it leads
to this spinning motion.
363
00:25:16,723 --> 00:25:19,058
Why it's a double vortex,
we don't really understand that.
364
00:25:19,100 --> 00:25:20,643
It's still mysterious.
365
00:25:21,603 --> 00:25:24,522
This storm is
an enormous presence on Venus.
366
00:25:24,564 --> 00:25:27,066
It's thousands of miles across.
367
00:25:27,108 --> 00:25:30,152
The winds it generates
are hundreds of miles an hour...
368
00:25:30,195 --> 00:25:34,114
and these vortexes are
a permanent fixture on Venus.
369
00:25:45,418 --> 00:25:48,504
Weather takes
many strange forms in space...
370
00:25:53,301 --> 00:25:54,635
even rain.
371
00:26:00,892 --> 00:26:03,185
But other planets
have atmospheres...
372
00:26:03,228 --> 00:26:04,979
made up of different chemicals.
373
00:26:05,021 --> 00:26:06,939
In turn, rain is formed...
374
00:26:06,982 --> 00:26:09,692
from ingredients
that would be lethal to humans.
375
00:26:12,362 --> 00:26:13,946
And these toxic rains...
376
00:26:13,989 --> 00:26:17,324
are some of the worst
you'll find anywhere in space.
377
00:26:29,045 --> 00:26:31,422
Far out past the rings of Saturn...
378
00:26:31,464 --> 00:26:34,174
lies the second biggest moon
in the solar system...
379
00:26:41,182 --> 00:26:42,349
Titan.
380
00:26:47,856 --> 00:26:52,985
In 2005, the Huygens-Cassini probe
pierced Titan's atmosphere...
381
00:26:53,028 --> 00:26:54,820
landing on its surface.
382
00:26:59,117 --> 00:27:03,495
What it discovered was a place
with features eerily similar to Earth's.
383
00:27:07,751 --> 00:27:11,295
Titan is the only planetary
body in the solar system...
384
00:27:11,338 --> 00:27:13,714
that has seas like Earth.
385
00:27:14,883 --> 00:27:19,011
In fact, I regard Titan
as a deranged version of Earth.
386
00:27:19,054 --> 00:27:23,140
Scientists were excited
to discover mountains, washes...
387
00:27:23,183 --> 00:27:25,934
even lakes the size
of Lake Superior.
388
00:27:28,855 --> 00:27:32,733
And the liquid that fills
Titan's lakes and rivers isn't water.
389
00:27:37,155 --> 00:27:38,781
It's methane.
390
00:27:38,823 --> 00:27:40,491
I wouldn't want to go swimming
in one of those lakes.
391
00:27:40,533 --> 00:27:43,118
They're liquid methane,
which is extraordinarily cold.
392
00:27:45,747 --> 00:27:48,999
And that means when condensation
occurs on this planet...
393
00:27:49,042 --> 00:27:50,834
it rains methane.
394
00:27:57,217 --> 00:28:00,260
Rain on Titan isn't
an everyday occurrence.
395
00:28:04,349 --> 00:28:08,018
In fact, scientists have only witnessed
cloud formation a few times.
396
00:28:10,689 --> 00:28:14,066
But the evidence is everywhere-
397
00:28:14,109 --> 00:28:17,945
deep washes as a result
of significant rainfall.
398
00:28:19,406 --> 00:28:20,614
Here we are in Tucson.
399
00:28:20,657 --> 00:28:23,117
It hasn't rained for days,
and it doesn't usually rain...
400
00:28:23,159 --> 00:28:25,327
but, occasionally,
it rains very strong...
401
00:28:25,370 --> 00:28:28,622
and we get a lot of water
coming through this wash...
402
00:28:28,665 --> 00:28:31,125
and eroding this wall.
403
00:28:31,167 --> 00:28:34,837
This is the same kind
of evidence we see on Titan...
404
00:28:38,633 --> 00:28:40,259
where usually it doesn't rain...
405
00:28:40,301 --> 00:28:44,054
but, occasionally,
it produces phenomenal washes.
406
00:28:46,391 --> 00:28:48,934
Rainstorms on Titan
might be pretty violent.
407
00:28:48,977 --> 00:28:51,603
We see lots of erosional
patterns on the surface...
408
00:28:51,646 --> 00:28:52,938
that suggest
that some of these storms...
409
00:28:52,981 --> 00:28:54,231
have been pretty powerful.
410
00:28:56,234 --> 00:29:00,237
Scientists believe it takes time
for a storm to develop on Titan.
411
00:29:01,698 --> 00:29:06,243
And every once in a while, enough
clouds build so a rainstorm occurs.
412
00:29:07,662 --> 00:29:10,330
So what if we do
see a storm here?
413
00:29:10,373 --> 00:29:11,957
What would it look like?
414
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,042
Well, the big ones
are incredible.
415
00:29:14,085 --> 00:29:17,212
They would cover the sky
from one end to the next...
416
00:29:17,255 --> 00:29:22,426
and we would eventually start seeing
these very gently falling drops...
417
00:29:22,469 --> 00:29:25,554
much slower than the rain
that we have on Earth.
418
00:29:25,597 --> 00:29:27,931
In fact, everything would
seem to be in slow motion.
419
00:29:27,974 --> 00:29:30,184
The winds would be
a little bit slower...
420
00:29:30,226 --> 00:29:34,354
and the drops would gently land,
and they wouldn't be water.
421
00:29:34,397 --> 00:29:37,065
They would be natural gas.
422
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:44,698
Imagine a toxic drizzle with
the consistency of waxy crude oil...
423
00:29:44,741 --> 00:29:47,367
all at minus 300 degrees.
424
00:29:50,330 --> 00:29:51,497
That's Titan.
425
00:30:11,392 --> 00:30:13,852
Back on Venus,
there's never an issue...
426
00:30:13,895 --> 00:30:16,605
with getting enough heat
from the Sun.
427
00:30:16,648 --> 00:30:20,108
With carbon dioxide forever
trapped in the atmosphere...
428
00:30:20,151 --> 00:30:23,070
it has a greenhouse effect
gone wild.
429
00:30:26,449 --> 00:30:30,077
All that heat creates
condensation and clouds...
430
00:30:33,706 --> 00:30:35,374
thick with sulfuric acid.
431
00:30:38,002 --> 00:30:39,211
Here's the irony.
432
00:30:39,254 --> 00:30:42,381
Venus is named
for the goddess of beauty.
433
00:30:42,423 --> 00:30:45,384
The source
of the beauty of Venus...
434
00:30:45,426 --> 00:30:49,596
is one of the most potent acids
known to science.
435
00:30:49,639 --> 00:30:52,766
In other words,
women are not from Venus.
436
00:30:54,269 --> 00:30:58,063
There seem to be storms and
convection patterns that move around.
437
00:31:00,900 --> 00:31:02,401
There are places
within those clouds...
438
00:31:02,443 --> 00:31:03,902
that are very turbulent.
439
00:31:06,656 --> 00:31:10,367
Rainstorms on Venus happen
thirty miles up from the surface...
440
00:31:10,410 --> 00:31:15,956
in the cloud beds,
and acid rain falls constantly.
441
00:31:17,584 --> 00:31:19,209
The thing
about the acid rain on Venus...
442
00:31:19,252 --> 00:31:21,128
is that it literally is battery acid.
443
00:31:21,170 --> 00:31:23,922
It's so strong, that acid...
444
00:31:23,965 --> 00:31:27,718
that it would eat through skin
and do very nasty things.
445
00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:30,012
So whatever's left
of your body...
446
00:31:30,054 --> 00:31:32,890
would be burnt into
a charred piece of powder...
447
00:31:32,932 --> 00:31:34,600
by the sulfuric acid.
448
00:31:37,478 --> 00:31:39,563
But the final rain
on the countdown...
449
00:31:39,606 --> 00:31:44,484
is the most toxic, if not
the most dangerous of all.
450
00:31:52,827 --> 00:31:56,330
Throughout the universe,
failed stars, called brown dwarfs...
451
00:31:56,372 --> 00:31:58,206
hide in the shadows.
452
00:32:00,752 --> 00:32:03,837
While they're more massive
than our largest planet, Jupiter...
453
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,466
they are so faint,
telescopes have trouble detecting them.
454
00:32:13,306 --> 00:32:15,557
A brown dwarf is a failed star.
455
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:16,892
It's a wannabe.
456
00:32:16,935 --> 00:32:19,895
It's a ball of gas
that never quite made it.
457
00:32:19,938 --> 00:32:21,480
You have to have
a certain amount of gas...
458
00:32:21,522 --> 00:32:25,692
before you get ignition
and you get a beautiful star emerging.
459
00:32:25,735 --> 00:32:27,611
A brown dwarf
just didn't make it.
460
00:32:29,989 --> 00:32:32,491
Despite being a failure
as a star...
461
00:32:32,533 --> 00:32:35,202
temperatures on brown dwarfs
are still pretty impressive...
462
00:32:38,039 --> 00:32:40,624
at over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
463
00:32:42,961 --> 00:32:46,004
And unlike stars that are
too hot to have weather...
464
00:32:46,047 --> 00:32:48,006
brown dwarfs have cooled enough...
465
00:32:48,049 --> 00:32:50,968
to experience convection
and condensation.
466
00:32:53,054 --> 00:32:54,304
At these temperatures...
467
00:32:54,347 --> 00:32:57,391
rain takes on a whole new
terrifying meaning.
468
00:33:02,605 --> 00:33:04,439
Deep in the atmosphere
of a brown dwarf...
469
00:33:04,482 --> 00:33:06,858
it's so hot
that even iron is a vapor.
470
00:33:06,901 --> 00:33:09,403
It's a gas like water
is in our own atmosphere.
471
00:33:14,534 --> 00:33:19,579
As iron vapors rise up,
they cool, solidify, and turn to sand.
472
00:33:22,375 --> 00:33:24,418
The iron would start
to condense...
473
00:33:24,460 --> 00:33:27,004
and you have clouds,
big, puffy clouds...
474
00:33:27,046 --> 00:33:30,757
except the clouds would be sand,
boiling hot, 1,500 degrees.
475
00:33:30,800 --> 00:33:32,509
Because in a brown dwarf...
476
00:33:32,552 --> 00:33:34,011
you have something
the size of Jupiter...
477
00:33:34,053 --> 00:33:37,806
but you've packed in 30 or 40
or 50 times the mass of Jupiter...
478
00:33:37,849 --> 00:33:39,391
the gravity is very high.
479
00:33:39,434 --> 00:33:42,352
It could be as high as 300 times
the gravity we have on Earth...
480
00:33:42,395 --> 00:33:44,396
and so things can fall
a lot faster.
481
00:33:48,443 --> 00:33:50,402
The highest moving velocity
of a sandblaster...
482
00:33:50,445 --> 00:33:53,488
makes it a pretty good analogy
for sand in a brown dwarf.
483
00:33:54,824 --> 00:33:56,783
In the atmosphere
of a brown dwarf...
484
00:33:56,826 --> 00:34:00,245
the gravity is 300 times
what it is here on Earth...
485
00:34:00,288 --> 00:34:03,457
and these little sand grains
in the cloud would be falling...
486
00:34:03,499 --> 00:34:06,168
at 70, 80, or 100 miles an hour.
487
00:34:06,210 --> 00:34:09,796
It would be a lot like the sand
coming out of this sandblaster.
488
00:34:09,839 --> 00:34:12,758
This sheet of stainless steel
has been warped...
489
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,926
by the force
of the sandblaster.
490
00:34:14,969 --> 00:34:19,639
You can imagine the iron rain
in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf...
491
00:34:19,682 --> 00:34:21,725
coming down
at a hundred miles an hour...
492
00:34:21,768 --> 00:34:24,394
what it might do
to a sheet like this.
493
00:34:26,481 --> 00:34:27,981
These drops of liquid iron...
494
00:34:28,024 --> 00:34:30,984
they may be 2,800, almost
3,000 degrees Fahrenheit...
495
00:34:31,027 --> 00:34:33,695
these drops can really start
falling at high velocity...
496
00:34:33,738 --> 00:34:35,614
fifty, eighty,
a hundred miles an hour.
497
00:34:35,656 --> 00:34:38,325
So you can imagine your umbrella
would be torn to shreds...
498
00:34:38,367 --> 00:34:40,744
by this hail of molten iron.
499
00:34:40,787 --> 00:34:43,080
It would be a real rainstorm
from hell.
500
00:34:46,667 --> 00:34:49,419
This has got to be the worst
weather in the universe.
501
00:34:54,634 --> 00:35:01,848
Heat, convection, condensation-
the elements of weather.
502
00:35:01,891 --> 00:35:05,310
Alone, they cause
spectacular rains...
503
00:35:05,353 --> 00:35:09,981
supersonic winds, and heat
on other planets.
504
00:35:10,024 --> 00:35:13,401
Combine them,
and incredible storms are formed.
505
00:35:22,703 --> 00:35:25,080
A storm needs
a temperature difference.
506
00:35:27,917 --> 00:35:32,879
On Earth, every storm is a result
of uneven heating by the Sun.
507
00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:39,219
The easiest example is the ocean
is colder than the land.
508
00:35:44,976 --> 00:35:49,896
Hurricanes, cyclones, and vortexes...
509
00:35:49,939 --> 00:35:52,607
are the great wonders
of weather on Earth...
510
00:35:56,946 --> 00:35:59,239
but also in space.
511
00:36:05,913 --> 00:36:11,001
And unlike Earth, where storms
last hours or perhaps a few days...
512
00:36:11,043 --> 00:36:15,380
some storms in space
can last centuries.
513
00:36:15,423 --> 00:36:17,924
These hurricanes would make
our hurricanes on Earth...
514
00:36:17,967 --> 00:36:19,301
look like a summer breeze.
515
00:36:33,941 --> 00:36:37,777
Neptune has the fastest winds
in the solar system.
516
00:36:41,115 --> 00:36:44,367
But it also has
a Great Dark Spot...
517
00:36:44,410 --> 00:36:47,037
a mysterious
hurricane-like storm...
518
00:36:47,079 --> 00:36:49,998
that appears and disappears
with no warning.
519
00:36:52,793 --> 00:36:55,921
It flies around the planet
counterclockwise.
520
00:36:58,966 --> 00:37:00,800
Discovered by Voyager ll...
521
00:37:00,843 --> 00:37:03,803
it's big with
black and blue features.
522
00:37:05,556 --> 00:37:10,143
It appears to be a fierce storm
about the size of Earth.
523
00:37:12,438 --> 00:37:15,398
Scientists don't know
what causes it to form...
524
00:37:15,441 --> 00:37:16,566
or why it is black.
525
00:37:19,195 --> 00:37:20,362
It's a mystery...
526
00:37:20,404 --> 00:37:23,073
like another storm
in our solar system.
527
00:37:35,253 --> 00:37:38,630
Saturn is famous
for its magnificent rings...
528
00:37:38,673 --> 00:37:42,759
but is a little mysterious
when it comes to its atmosphere.
529
00:37:42,802 --> 00:37:45,136
But sit back and wait thirty years...
530
00:37:45,179 --> 00:37:48,098
and Saturn will put on a storm
so magnificent...
531
00:37:48,140 --> 00:37:50,684
it would impress
Mother Nature herself.
532
00:38:03,781 --> 00:38:05,991
It's called
the Great White Spot...
533
00:38:06,033 --> 00:38:10,829
a gigantic storm that develops every
thirty years on Saturn's surface...
534
00:38:10,871 --> 00:38:13,873
eventually covering
the entire equator.
535
00:38:15,418 --> 00:38:17,585
It is truly
a planetary-scale phenomenon...
536
00:38:17,628 --> 00:38:20,755
and we think it's a monstrous,
monstrous thunderstorm.
537
00:38:23,843 --> 00:38:27,971
Scientists have observed the storm
developing at Saturn's equator...
538
00:38:28,014 --> 00:38:30,765
where it receives
the most heat from the Sun.
539
00:38:30,808 --> 00:38:32,726
Perhaps, heat builds over time...
540
00:38:32,768 --> 00:38:35,937
and finally bursts
into a storm on a planet...
541
00:38:35,980 --> 00:38:39,441
that has no surface
or friction to slow it down.
542
00:38:39,483 --> 00:38:41,735
In other words,
it's sort of like a vicious circle...
543
00:38:41,777 --> 00:38:45,655
where, once you get the ball rolling,
it just rolls down the hill...
544
00:38:45,698 --> 00:38:47,240
and, you know,
the storm goes global.
545
00:38:48,743 --> 00:38:51,453
Months later,
the storm runs out of energy...
546
00:38:51,495 --> 00:38:54,581
only to lie dormant
for another thirty years.
547
00:38:58,044 --> 00:39:00,378
What the cause
or time scale means...
548
00:39:00,421 --> 00:39:02,422
scientists truly don't know.
549
00:39:05,634 --> 00:39:10,847
But Saturn's Great White Spot
is not as powerful or everlasting...
550
00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:13,892
as our biggest storm
in the solar system.
551
00:39:26,238 --> 00:39:30,241
Jupiter has long been a source
of fascination for scientists...
552
00:39:30,284 --> 00:39:32,285
when studying
wild weather in space...
553
00:39:33,287 --> 00:39:37,624
and its great storm has been
a feast for the eyes for centuries.
554
00:39:47,093 --> 00:39:49,677
Jupiter is the giant
of our solar system...
555
00:39:49,720 --> 00:39:52,889
dwarfing all other planets...
556
00:39:52,932 --> 00:39:55,934
so it's only fitting its weather
also becomes a showpiece...
557
00:39:55,976 --> 00:39:58,770
of sheer force
and incredible size.
558
00:40:07,029 --> 00:40:10,323
In 1664,
the astronomer Robert Hooke...
559
00:40:10,366 --> 00:40:12,867
noticed something strange
about Jupiter.
560
00:40:12,910 --> 00:40:16,830
There was a pimple there, which
we now call the Great Red Spot.
561
00:40:16,872 --> 00:40:18,456
It's been stable.
562
00:40:18,499 --> 00:40:24,462
Think of it, a planetary storm
several times the size of the Earth...
563
00:40:24,505 --> 00:40:26,464
stable since 1664.
564
00:40:26,507 --> 00:40:29,801
This is one of the amazing features
of our solar system.
565
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,140
The Great Red Spot
was named that...
566
00:40:35,182 --> 00:40:36,724
long before we knew
what it was...
567
00:40:36,767 --> 00:40:39,102
because you can see it
from a telescope on Earth.
568
00:40:39,145 --> 00:40:40,728
And so for hundreds of years...
569
00:40:40,771 --> 00:40:42,939
people have known
about this Great Red Spot.
570
00:40:42,982 --> 00:40:44,315
The Great Red Spot...
571
00:40:44,358 --> 00:40:47,861
is the most impressive storm
of our solar system...
572
00:40:47,903 --> 00:40:52,365
and it's been churning
for at least 300 years.
573
00:40:52,408 --> 00:40:54,325
The mother of all hurricanes
in our solar system...
574
00:40:54,368 --> 00:40:55,493
is actually on Jupiter.
575
00:40:55,536 --> 00:40:56,995
It's not technically a hurricane...
576
00:40:57,037 --> 00:40:59,122
but it behaves
very much like one.
577
00:41:02,793 --> 00:41:05,336
It has a heat source,
it has swirling winds...
578
00:41:05,379 --> 00:41:07,505
and it dwarfs anything
on our planet.
579
00:41:07,548 --> 00:41:09,382
This storm is so big,
you could take two Earths...
580
00:41:09,425 --> 00:41:11,843
and stick them
right inside of the storm.
581
00:41:11,886 --> 00:41:14,721
The winds are blowing
at 300 miles an hour.
582
00:41:22,771 --> 00:41:26,357
Both hurricanes and
the Great Red Spot are giant vortices.
583
00:41:26,400 --> 00:41:28,776
In the case of hurricanes,
they're a low-pressure center.
584
00:41:28,819 --> 00:41:30,737
The Great Red Spot
is a high-pressure center.
585
00:41:30,779 --> 00:41:34,115
In both cases, there are
high-speed winds circling the vortex.
586
00:41:42,124 --> 00:41:46,628
Like a giant eye, the storm
continuously circles Jupiter.
587
00:41:47,463 --> 00:41:50,840
Wind speeds
reach 400 miles per hour...
588
00:41:50,883 --> 00:41:54,886
and the giant red spot
never seems to dwindle in strength.
589
00:41:54,929 --> 00:41:57,597
Powered by the internal heat
of Jupiter...
590
00:41:57,640 --> 00:42:00,266
it also eats anything in its path.
591
00:42:00,309 --> 00:42:01,935
If you're a small vortex...
592
00:42:01,977 --> 00:42:04,604
and you're in the path
of the Great Red Spot, look out.
593
00:42:04,647 --> 00:42:06,773
You're going to be gobbled up
like a little fish.
594
00:42:10,444 --> 00:42:13,655
Scientists believe the lack of friction
or surface on Jupiter...
595
00:42:13,697 --> 00:42:17,534
might allow this storm to churn
uninterrupted for centuries more.
596
00:42:24,959 --> 00:42:26,751
On Earth, because
of the strong friction...
597
00:42:26,794 --> 00:42:28,211
when hurricanes hit land...
598
00:42:28,254 --> 00:42:31,339
they tend to fall apart
in just a few days.
599
00:42:31,382 --> 00:42:33,091
On the other hand,
the Great Red Spot...
600
00:42:33,133 --> 00:42:35,301
has a lifetime
of over a hundred years.
601
00:42:35,344 --> 00:42:37,220
We don't really understand
this in detail...
602
00:42:37,263 --> 00:42:39,055
but it probably it means
that the friction...
603
00:42:39,098 --> 00:42:40,807
in Jupiter's atmosphere
is very weak...
604
00:42:40,849 --> 00:42:42,350
compared to
in Earth's atmosphere.
605
00:42:43,602 --> 00:42:47,397
Jupiter is a good example
of a planet where the planet itself...
606
00:42:47,439 --> 00:42:49,941
is what's supplying
at least some of the energy...
607
00:42:49,984 --> 00:42:53,486
to drive a storm
that's lasting for centuries.
608
00:43:01,662 --> 00:43:04,163
Weather-
the state of an atmosphere.
609
00:43:04,206 --> 00:43:05,957
Throughout the universe...
610
00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:09,335
familiar weather events
on Earth are played out...
611
00:43:09,378 --> 00:43:12,213
in fantastic ways
on other planets.
612
00:43:14,425 --> 00:43:17,427
But why study weather
on other planets at all?
613
00:43:19,388 --> 00:43:21,931
If you only ever study Earth...
614
00:43:21,974 --> 00:43:23,766
for examples
to understand Earth...
615
00:43:24,643 --> 00:43:27,228
you may be missing
a much broader context...
616
00:43:27,271 --> 00:43:28,354
in which the phenomenon...
617
00:43:28,397 --> 00:43:30,982
that you're trying
to describe is imbedded.
618
00:43:31,025 --> 00:43:32,150
So, for example,
we look at Earth...
619
00:43:32,192 --> 00:43:33,860
and we talk about
a greenhouse effect.
620
00:43:34,862 --> 00:43:36,696
You want to learn about it,
go check it out.
621
00:43:36,739 --> 00:43:37,780
Look at Venus.
622
00:43:39,658 --> 00:43:42,076
The urge is to believe
that all your solutions...
623
00:43:42,119 --> 00:43:46,456
to your problems on Earth can be
found by only looking at Earth.
624
00:43:46,999 --> 00:43:50,168
That is shortsighted,
bordering on delusional.
625
00:43:52,921 --> 00:43:55,757
When we study familiar processes
in unfamiliar settings...
626
00:43:55,799 --> 00:43:58,551
it really tests whether or not
we understand what's happening.
627
00:44:01,388 --> 00:44:04,641
In terms of the possibility
of life on other planets...
628
00:44:04,683 --> 00:44:07,268
understanding the weather patterns
is absolutely key.
629
00:44:08,187 --> 00:44:09,354
We're one planet of many.
630
00:44:09,396 --> 00:44:11,731
The Sun is one star of many.
631
00:44:11,774 --> 00:44:14,525
We're in an undistinguished
part of the galaxy.
632
00:44:14,568 --> 00:44:18,071
There's much to be learned
by exploring what others say.
53669
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