A Raging Storm System on Saturn
Explanation:
It was one of the largest and longest lived storms ever recorded in our Solar System.
First seen in late 2010, the
above cloud formation in the northern hemisphere of Saturn started larger than
the Earth and
soon spread completely around the planet.
The storm was tracked not only
from Earth but from
up close by the robotic
Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn.
Pictured above in false colored infrared in February, orange colors indicate
clouds deep in the atmosphere, while light colors highlight
clouds higher up.
The
rings of Saturn are seen nearly edge-on as the thin blue horizontal line.
The warped dark bands are the
shadows of the rings cast onto the cloud tops by the
Sun to the upper left.
A source of radio noise from
lightning, the
intense storm was thought to relate to seasonal changes
when spring
emerges in the north of
Saturn.
After raging for over six months, the
iconic storm circled the entire planet and then tried to absorb its own tail
-- which surprisingly caused it to
fade away.
Sweden:
APOD editor to speak at Cosmonova in late May
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.
