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Giant Convection Cells Found on the Sun

Heat is transported through the outermost 30% of the Sun's interior by overturning convective motions. These motions are evident at the Sun's surface in the form of two characteristic cellular structures - granules and supergranules (~1000 and ~30,000 km across respectively). The existence of much larger cells has been suggested by both theory and observation for over 45 years. We found evidence for giant cellular flows that persist for months by tracking the motions of supergranules. As expected from the effects of the Sun's rotation, the flows in these cells are clockwise around high pressure in the north, counter-clockwise in the south and transport angular momentum toward the equator, maintaining the Sun's rapid equatorial rotation.