from the lethal greenhouse gases of
Venus to treacherous storms of Jupiter
and its moons today we look at insane
weather on other planets
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number eleven extreme temps on Mercury
weather on Mercury is fairly simplistic
thanks to its near complete lack of
atmosphere but it's also to blame for
Mercury's extreme temperatures as the
closest planet to the Sun it's no wonder
why mercury would get extremely hot but
without an atmosphere there's nothing to
retain that heat on the surface of the
planet as a result mercury tends to
range from over 800 degrees fahrenheit
to 290 degrees below Fahrenheit so if
you ever get to visit mercury you'll
have your choice of how to go out
petrified in solid ice or scorched to
ash number 10 poison acid sauna on Venus
almost as if compensating for its little
birdie Mercury Venus has an incredibly
thick atmosphere composed of greenhouse
gases mostly carbon dioxide due to this
dense air Venus retains much more of the
sun's radiation this cooks the surface
of the planet to a consistent 900
degrees Fahrenheit and like a hellish
rainforest the heat is accompanied by
super corrosive sulfuric acid drizzling
from the sky Venus's surface is so hot
though any rain evaporates before it can
hit the ground or explodes violently
when the sulfuric acid makes contact
with some water one of the two and if
the acid and heat weren't enough Venus
is also under intense pressure at 92
times the atmospheric pressure of Earth
needless to say no attempts to send a
person to Venus have been made and any
probes that made it there couldn't make
it past a couple of hours on that
treacherous surface number nine polar
sandstorms on Mars
thought by some to have the potential
secret to life on Earth beneath their
polar caps the dry dusty red surface of
Mars certainly resembles a drought
ridden wasteland scientists believe the
planet once had running water thus
necessitating precipitation and by
default and atmosphere but with no
remnants of an atmosphere to be found
dust
plagued the surface of Mars these
violent cyclones tear through the red
landscape and can even expand envelope
the planet over the course of a couple
days rivaling the dust disasters that
cover Mars are the intense snowstorms
located at the planet's polar icecaps to
make them even stranger
these blizzards are made of dry ice also
known as frozen carbon dioxide less
extreme though are the temperatures on
the planet Mars like mercury doesn't
have much of any atmosphere but as the
fourth planet from the Sun Mars attains
much more moderate temperatures whereas
one spot on the planet could be 70
degrees fahrenheit in the Sun and that
same spot in the shade could be as low
as minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit since
these facts all point towards some sort
of potential habitability on Mars
researchers hope to have a man on Mars
in the next few decades
number eight super storms on Jupiter
covered in unfathomable storms one more
than any other sticks out on the surface
of Jupiter referred to as the Great Red
Spot this massive hurricane is
approximately 400 years old and was seen
and recorded by Galileo the storm is so
colossal it's easily three times the
size of the earth in recent years a new
storm identified as Little Red Spot has
sprouted up and begun to churn it's
shown signs of increasing in speed and
size since its appearance jet streams
cover Jupiter as well with nearly 30 of
them racing across the surface at speeds
reaching over 300 miles per hour some of
these jet streams align with the Great
Red Spot and actually are responsible
for keeping it somewhat restrained
meanwhile other jet streams appear to
have another purpose as scientists have
recently identified them as being
composed of frozen ammonia the
temperature at that part of the
atmosphere reaches a dismal negative 220
degrees Fahrenheit even stranger than
these frozen speeding ammonia clouds
comes in the recent discovery that
Jupiter can even form diamonds in its
atmosphere
whether can't get any weirder than
raining priceless jewels number seven
ice ocean on Europa of all the moons of
Jupiter Europa is the only one that is
apparently stashing a 62 mile saltwater
ocean trapped in a layer of ice some
scientists believe Europa has some of
the required chemical compounds for life
to develop a thin atmosphere contributes
to the icy surface but interestingly
enough it's composed of molecular oxygen
the oxygen in this gaseous layer leaks
from Europa's gravitational pull has
does molecular hydrogen and atomic
oxygen these elements combine in the
form of a hazy cloud around the moon
while in this cloud the elements become
ionized and provide a source for the
plasma that drifts within Jupiter's
magnetosphere number six hot cold
volcanoes on Io covered in hundreds of
lava filled Peaks io is constantly
bursting with volcanic activity thanks
to the gravitational yank of Jupiter
these active volcanic regions can reach
temperatures of 3000 92 degrees
Fahrenheit but as with many low
atmosphere planets the heat is not
retained and there are areas on the moon
that are freezing cold the volcanoes
that do erupt often hit heights of 250
miles above the surface due to its low
gravity and the forcefulness of
Jupiter's pool to make matters even more
confusing for our researchers according
to temperature models and calculations
the volcanoes on Io surface break the
natural laws science has in place for
volcanoes initially stupefied by their
apparent wrong location researchers
recognize the volcanoes of Io as a
launching pad for a greater
understanding of volcanic properties
number 5 ice barrier dinner G on Saturn
similar to Jupiter in that it's
completely composed of gas Saturn has
many properties that are similar to its
bigger neighbor it's composed of mostly
hydrogen as well as ammonia and helium
but it's also much windier with some
winds reaching speeds of 1,000 miles per
hour to put that into perspective the
highest speed of a naturally occurring
wind ever recorded is
253 miles per hour in addition to higher
speeds
Saturn's all-around temperature is much
lower the atmosphere is thin and cold
and the planets north pole is a constant
snowstorm the storm itself has unique
characteristic as it's not circular or
even rounded but instead hexagonal each
side of the hexagon is predicted to be
eight thousand six hundred miles long
which is larger than the diameter of the
earth
unlike Jupiter this storm is not as
common in occurrence as Saturn will
often experience a period of peace
punctuated by random storms sprouting up
but when they do they're just as extreme
if not more so than the storms on
Jupiter
one such storm in the northern
hemisphere stretches across 10,000
kilometers in the atmosphere a distance
equivalent to flying from Texas to Tokyo
another storm scientists found was
nearly 8 times the surface area of the
earth enraged for at least four years
photos taken by the NASA spacecraft
Cassini showed this storms turbulence in
full with the supposed 10 lightning
flashes per second at one point near
Saturn's surface the immense pressure
combined with the elements of the planet
produced hardened Graphite's
and even diamonds unfortunately even
trying to get close to these high-speed
streams of diamonds would probably
result in a violent visceral thrashing
number 4 methane lakes on Titan one of
the largest moons Saturn has Titan is
covered in large lakes of liquid not to
be confused with Minnesota this land of
thousand lakes is quite a bit cooler at
an average temperature of minus 260
degrees Fahrenheit not only that that
these large bodies of water aren't even
water there methane this may be a bit
disappointing if you get the chance to
view the massive moon since it looks so
much like Earth but methane has a much
lower melting point than water at 295
point 6 degrees Fahrenheit this means
the methane endure cycles similar to
Earth with solid methane melting to
liquid before precipitating back down
upon the planet
the thick atmosphere surrounding Titan
allows for what little he permeates the
surface to stick around and keep the
precipitation cycle fresh this doesn't
make the moon any easier to visit but at
least gives insight to scientists of
analogous functions that occur across
the solar system some even think the
atmosphere could be perfect for life to
flourish or perhaps it already has
number-three chilly blue methane on
Uranus the coldest planet in our solar
system
Uranus drops to wildly low temperatures
bottoming out at a minus 371 degrees
Fahrenheit composed of gas and ice
Uranus has a unique feature compared to
other planets and that its axis is on
its side with its North Pole facing the
Sun its magnetic fields don't match up
with its poles and many researchers
believe it must have endured a collision
to have been knocked sideways into that
condition blanketed in blue methane
gases Uranus hides it's weather system
which is actually quite active infrared
cameras must be used to record the
weather which again features diamond
drain beneath the surface of blue number
two frozen wind on Neptune considered
the most distant planet from Earth in
the modern solar system Neptune has its
own share of extreme weather a gas giant
Neptune has the same typical diamond
rain in weather bands wrapping around
the surface but this planet has a much
flatter topography and as a result the
friction required to slow its high speed
winds are absent because of this Neptune
has the most violent high velocity winds
in the solar system at a peak of 1,500
miles per hour this means if you were to
visit Neptune you would be able to
witness the sound barrier break right
around the time you would have frozen
solid like many other planets Neptune
also has moons the largest one is Triton
a cold moon that averages minus 315
degrees Fahrenheit it is the coldest
place in the solar system ornamented
with pink polar ice caps it is believed
that the moon is slowly evaporating
layers of nitrogen ice the same nitrogen
that forms clouds surrounding Triton the
moon also has a strange orbit encircling
Neptune backwards scientists believe
this moon will most likely collide with
tune in the next ten to 100 million
years they believe it will most likely
be torn apart and form an icy ring
around its father planet number one
comment mode on Pluto Mercury and IO may
endure some acute differences in
temperature on their surface but Pluto
takes that to a new extreme it's
incredibly elliptical orbits takes it
from being completely frozen at its
furthest point from the Sun to a much
closer distance that does a little bit
more than melt the ice heating up due to
the increased proximity Pluto lights up
with a gassy atmosphere more resembling
a comet than a planet it even forms a
tail during orbits this strange feature
is to blame for Pluto's recent planetary
status revocation
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