APOD: Saturn Storm (2011 Jan 19)

[APOD Robot]

Saturn Storm

Explanation: Late last year, a new, remarkably bright storm erupted in Saturn's northern hemisphere. Amateur astronomers first spotted it in early December, with the ringed gas giant rising in planet Earth's predawn sky. Orbiting Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft was able to record this close-up of the complex disturbance from a distance of 1.8 million kilometers on December 24th. Over time, the storm has evolved, spreading substantially in longitude, and now stretches far around the planet. Saturn's thin rings are also seen slicing across this space-based view, casting broad shadows on the planet's southern hemisphere.

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[bystander]

http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 29&t=22413
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 61#p139861

[gwrede13]

As I see it, there can only be two explanations. Either a bubble blurted up, like when you are cooking oatmeal, or a comet that didn't contain too much carbon or silicates, plunged in.

I'd vote for the latter. Has this been observed at thermal wavelengths? Also, one would have expected a plume, but it may have had time to dissolve before any proper pictures (i.e. Cassini) got taken.

I wish I had recorded Saturn's radio emissions at audible wavelengths. I'm almost certain there is a clear anomaly in them, which could let us know at least the time of origin of this event.

I can't wait to read about this on PhysOrg!

(Sorry about ranting, my first post here. )

[León]

A dragon was born on Saturn, and is developed with speed Express.

Click to view full size image

It is the counterpart of Jupiter, who lost a ring for a while seem to be Saturn.

Unlike most previous storms observed, it is brighter in visible wavelengths in the infrared.

[gcall]

Based on similar observations of earth, It looks like top of a volcanic eruption.

[join45632000]

If you'll notice in the large format of the photo in its lower left quadrant, there is also a moon shadow traversing Saturn's cloud surface!

MJ

[orin stepanek]

MMM! Great Cassini photo!

Click to view full size image

[Chris Peterson]

As I see it, there can only be two explanations. Either a bubble blurted up, like when you are cooking oatmeal, or a comet that didn't contain too much carbon or silicates, plunged in.

There's no reason to think that this was the result of an impact. Saturn has a complex atmosphere that is stratified both vertically and latitudinally. There are zones that can oscillate between laminar and turbulent flow. Storms like this come out of simulations, and are seen on the other gas giants as well.

[Greyhawk]

Is it me or are the white and blue plumes kind of twirling around each other? Almost looks like they are corkscrewing around the tail. Might be just an artifact of the image processing but anyway...

[jkeller21]

The Saturn Storm APOD looked fascinating to me. The storm looked to be on the surface of saturn and spread for several miles. This storm looked like some sort of greenish gas floating around saturn.