The polar easterlies are named as such because they are the type of prevailing winds closest to the North and South poles. The polar easterlies mainly blow from east to west between 60 and 90 degrees latitude. However, they are often slightly offset to blow toward the northwest in the Sout...
OK, world's fastest animal, world's fastest person — these are all fine and good, but with a serious Earth-centric bent. Indeed, there are many things in our universe that makeEarth seem like a poky planet. Considering that a year in our world consists of 365 interminable days, it mi...
Voyager 2 also found a semi-permanent storm large enough to contain the entire Earth swirling away on Neptune's surface, dubbed "The Great Dark Spot" (a tribute of sorts to the famed Great Red Spot of Jupiter). This storm boasted winds in excess of 1,000 miles an hour, the fastest kn...
winds. Voyager 1 and 2 both left the heliosphere and are now in interstellar space. Technically, both are stillwithin the solar system, and will be for a while. The probes will have left the solar system when they pass beyond theOort Cloud. Voyager 1 will reach the leading edge of the...
Neptune Great Dark Spot in high resolution. Credit: NASA/JPL The huge temperature differences between Neptune's center and its surface (along with its differential rotation) create huge wind storms, which can reach as high as 2,100 km/hour, making them the fastest in the solar system. The ...
There's nothing like staring up at the night sky to make you feel small. But when looking out into the cosmos, you might also wonder: What is the most massive known object in the universe? In some ways, the question depends on what is meant by the word "object." Astronomers have spo...