A Hurricane Over the South Pole of Saturn
Explanation:
What's happening at the south pole of Saturn?
To find out, scientists sent the robot
Cassini probe now orbiting
Saturn
directly over the lower spin axis of the ringed giant.
Cassini found there a spectacular massive swirling
storm system with a well developed eye-wall, similar to a
hurricane here on Earth.
One image of the storm is
shown above, while
several frames from the overpass have been made into a
movie
that shows the
huge vortex rotating.
The storm is slightly larger than the entire Earth and carries winds that reach
550 kilometers per hour, twice the velocity of a
Category 5
hurricane.
This pole vortex on Saturn might have been raging for billions of years
and is not expected to
drift off the pole.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
