Convection cells (and gravity waves) in your morning coffee, and other extraordinary adventures in everyday science. Feb. 15, 2014, 8:39 AM PST / Updated Feb. 16, 2014, 6:21 AM PST ...

A separate estimate ofthe basin depth predicated on the known ratios of the width to depthof individual convection cells suggest that the nitrogen pool boastsa minimum depth of 10 km (6 miles ...

To put the sheer size of π1 Gruis's convection cells in context, our Sun has roughly two million cells, each of which is a (relatively) measly 1,500 km (932 miles) across.

We find that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the turbulent vertical velocity correlation provides a good objective measure of the vertical size of the convective cells. Just below the ...

More information: Giant Convection Cells Found on the Sun, Science 6 December 2013: Vol. 342 no. 6163 pp. 1217-1219 DOI: 10.1126/science.1244682 ...

These giant cells were expected to be about 120,000 miles (200,000 km) deep and wide, spanning the entire convection zone of the sun, the outermost third of the star's interior.