NASA Sees into the Eye of a Monster Storm on Saturn
Tuesday November 14, 2006
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has seen something never before seen on another planet -- a hurricane-like storm at Saturn's south pole with a well-developed eye, ringed by towering clouds.
The "hurricane" spans a dark area inside a thick, brighter ring of clouds. It is approximately 8,000 kilometers (5,000 miles) across, or two thirds the diameter of Earth.
A movie taken by Cassini's camera over a three-hour period reveals winds around Saturn's south pole blowing clockwise at 550 kilometers (350 miles) per hour. The camera also saw the shadow cast by a ring of towering clouds surrounding the pole, and two spiral arms of clouds extending from the central ring. These ring clouds, 30 to 75 kilometers (20 to 45 miles) above those in the center of the storm, are two to five times taller than the clouds of thunderstorms and hurricanes on Earth.
Image Credit:NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
- Related Resource: Saturn Information
- Related Resource: Two Storms Caught in the Act on Saturn
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Comments
That is so cool. (I know, but it is the only word I can think of when I see it) I am glad we don’t get such storms here. At least not yet
I think cool is an appropriate word, Diane. A word I think gets overused is “awesome.”
I agree, I’m glad we don’t see such storms here. I lived through Hugo in 1989 and its aftermath. I can’t imagine what the people who survived Katrina went through.