While almost as big in size as Jupiter, Saturn's density is the lowest in the solar system and its mass only 30 percent. With a diameter of 120,536 kilometers (almost 75,000 miles) it is the second largest planet in the solar system. Watch a NASA representative discuss the project and the life of the storm in the video below. The sixth planet from the sun, Saturn formed more than four billion years ago. Scientists hope that this project will give them greater insights into how such storms form on worlds like Neptune. ![]() Since 2015, OPAL has focused the telescope regularly on Neptune, letting NASA watch a new Great Dark Spot-like storm as it slowly fades from view. It is these storms that the Hubble has been watching closely. The team determined the wind speeds on Neptune by analyzing photographs of four cloud features above the planet that were taken by Voyager 2 over 65 days. But Neptune constantly generates new, continent-sized storms to replace it. Back in 1989 when Voyager 2 made our first and only visit to the planet, it observed a huge storm similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, called the Great Dark Spot, it eventually faded away. Given these high winds and extreme weather, it makes sense then that scientists are interested in Neptune's storms. Similar storms appear and disappear on the planet. The wind speeds computed with respect to this radio period range from 20 meters per second eastward to 325 meters per second westward. The Great Dark Spot, a storm on Neptune from 25 years ago. In fact, that wind speed is nearly supersonic! Storm watch Its winds are the most powerful in the solar system, hitting 2,100 km/h or 1,300 mph (the worst hurricanes on Earth hit only about 295 km/h or 185 mph). Like Saturn, it has rings (though they're quite faint), and it's one of the coldest places in the solar system, hitting -221.3☌ (they don't call it an ice giant for nothing!) The windier part of the year lasts for 6.5 months, from October 8 to April 23, with average wind speeds of more than 10.7 miles per hour. It's about 4.5 billion kilometres from the Sun - nearly twice the distance of the next planet, Uranus, and 30 times farther than the Earth is to the Sun.ĭespite (and sometimes because of) this great distance, Neptune has some extremely interesting features. ![]() Neptune is the eighth and final planet orbiting the Sun, and the only one that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Much of the reason why we don't hear that much about Neptune is simple. One that was once the size of the North Atlantic Ocean! Getting in tune with Neptune ![]() By stringing together years of observations by the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers are giving us a glimpse of the rise and fall of a massive storm on Neptune. In 2011 Neptune completed its first 165-year orbit since its discovery in 1846. More than 30 times as far from the Sun as Earth, Neptune is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye. Now, thanks to a NASA project called Outer Planet Atmosphere Legacy (OPAL), this cool blue ice giant is ready to make a little noise. Dark, cold, and whipped by supersonic winds, ice giant Neptune is the eighth and most distant planet in our solar system. Whether it's planning manned missions to Mars, or seeing jaw-dropping images from probes around Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto, there's a lot of scene-stealing excitement going on in our solar system right now. But you know what planet we're not hearing that much about?
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