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APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:05 am
by APOD Robot
A Raging Storm System on Saturn
Explanation: It is one of the largest and longest lived storms ever recorded in our Solar System. First seen late last year, the
above cloud formation in the northern hemisphere of Saturn started larger than the Earth and
soon spread completely around the planet. The storm has been 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 may relate to seasonal changes as spring
slowly emerges in the north of Saturn.
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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:02 am
by nstahl
I like this one a lot. And yesterday's.
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:18 am
by agulesin
What is the little black dot below the ring's shadows? a Saturn-Spot by any chance? are we tracking them?
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:37 am
by Ann
agulesin wrote:What is the little black dot below the ring's shadows? a Saturn-Spot by any chance? are we tracking them?
That is most likely the shadow of one of Saturn's many moons.
Ann
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:11 am
by owlice
agulesin wrote:What is the little black dot below the ring's shadows? a Saturn-Spot by any chance? are we tracking them?
"The shadow of the moon Enceladus is visible on the planet in the lower left of the image."
Source:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12829
That is the page available at the "Pictured above" link in the APOD text.
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 1:25 pm
by orin stepanek
Kind of eerie how the rings are so flat and their shadow curves with Saturn's surface.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:11 pm
by Boomer12k
Source of disturbance has been found....someone fuuted under the clouds....
:---[====] *
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:25 pm
by Beyond
Boomer12k wrote:Source of disturbance has been found....someone fuuted under the clouds....
:---[====] *
....fuuted
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
....do you mean that someone disturbed Saturn's gas with their own
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:42 pm
by starstruck
Geesh!, how stunning is Saturn! . . reminds me of that line from Fly Me To The Moon, "let me see what spring is like on Jupiter and Mars" . . and now Saturn too, thanks APOD!!
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:46 pm
by Wolf Kotenberg
Want to get our descendants interested in science and mathematics ? Set a goal for our nation to populate every planet in our solar system with an orbiting observatory !! Pass me an ice cold one for posting.
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:51 pm
by Beyond
Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)
Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:56 pm
by moconnor6
The moon's shadow (the little black dot) appears to have rays radiating from it on the Saturn surface. I guess it is strictly coincidental.