Mystery of 1,200-mph jet streams on gas giants like Jupiter explained with unified model

Scientists from the Netherlands have solved why gas giants have jet streams spinning in opposite directions, with Jupiter and Saturn's winds racing eastward at up to 1,243 mph while Uranus and Neptune's blow westward. Their unified model reveals the same atmospheric mechanism creates both patterns, with the key difference being the depth of each planet's convective layer where heat rises from the interior. Jupiter and Saturn have deeper convective regions that twist into eastward jets, while Uranus and Neptune's shallower layers produce westward flows.