Violent hurricanes with high wind speeds are not only on Earth. Also on other planets.
How such an extraterrestrial storm arises, astronomers could document on the planet Neptune over a longer period of time. With the space telescope "Hubble" they analyzed how the 2018 became visible storm with a diameter of approximately 11,000 kilometers, said the US space agency Nasa. Calculations suggest that such mighty storms occur every four to six years on Neptune. With a diameter of nearly 50,000 kilometers, the planet is about four times larger than the earth.
Storms on Neptune, which are created in regions with high atmospheric pressure, unlike those on Earth, show up as large dark spots on the images. So far, scientists have detected a total of six such spots, the first two in 1989 with the spacecraft "Voyager 2". With "Hubble" succeeded in 1993, a first storm recording, three more followed. Storms take a long time on Neptune, usually two years. But there are also indications that they can last up to six years.
On Jupiter there is a similar phenomenon, the more than 20,000 kilometers long Great Red Spot, which can be seen even with amateur telescopes. Researchers assume that this cyclone could rage for about 350 years. It rotates counterclockwise without moving north or south.