This is an infrared image of Saturn, acquired by the Cassini spacecraft, showing a huge storm, swirling in the planet’s dynamic atmosphere. The storm appears as a large yellow patch, amid greenish clouds, in this false color image.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona
NASA recently published an infrared image of Saturn, the ringed wonderful planet, showing a giant storm swirling in the planet’s turbulent atmosphere. The image was acquired by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft. The storm occurs in the early spring of Saturn’s northern hemisphere. It is so strong that it stretches around the entire planet. In the false-color image, the storm appears as a big yellowish patch, among green-hued clouds. Scientists at Paranal Observatory, located on Paranal Mountain in Chile, also acquired images, monitoring the storm.
The rare storm has been raging for months, and blowing plumes of gas high into the Saturnian atmosphere. An instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft first detected the large disturbance, and amateur astronomers tracked its emergence in December 2010. As it rapidly grew in size, the storm’s core evolved into a large, powerful thunderstorm. The storm produced a 5,000-kilometer-wide dark vortex.
"Nothing on Earth comes close to this powerful storm," said Leigh Fletcher, a Cassini team scientist. "A storm like this is rare. This is only the sixth one to be recorded since 1876, and the last was way back in 1990."
Imaging the storm in infrared light revealed atmospheric temperatures, winds and composition within the disturbance.
References
NASA
www.nasa.gov/
Further Reading
Cassini Mission Websites
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov