Huge white storm over Saturn is half the size of Earth

[Savwafair2012 Profile]

A storm on Saturn's northern hemisphere that is so large the central squall measures half the size of Earth. This picture was taken by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft last month.>>>


It would be the storm to end all storms if it took place on Earth.

An image captured by Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed a storm on Saturn’s northern hemisphere where the central squall measures half the size of our planet.

While the main spot is about 3,600 miles across the whole system including the tail streaming off to the right is more than 36,000 miles long.

The raw, unprocessed image was taken by Cassini on December 24, 2010 and received on Earth on 27 December. It was taken from around one million miles away using a green filter and also shows the dark shadows of the planet’s rings on the disk.

A spokesperson for Nasa said: '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 pre-dawn sky.'

Scientists believe the spot appears white because it is made of ammonia ice crystals.

Storms shoot warm gas up from Saturn's lower atmosphere and through a thick upper mantle of old, smog-stained ammonia ice. As the gas expands in the upper atmosphere, fresh crystals of ammonia condense on the cooling vapour, forming the white region visible from Earth.

Bridget Hesman, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, said: ‘A balloonist floating about 100 kilometres down from the bottom of Saturn’s calm stratosphere would experience an ammonia-ice blizzard.

'These blizzards appear to be powered by violent storms deeper down - perhaps another 100 to 200 kilometres down - where lightning has been observed and the clouds are made of water and ammonia.’

The phenomenon - which is a lesser known equivalent of Jupiter's giant red spot - was first picked up by amateur astronomers in mid-December.

The initial four-year mission to explore the Saturn System was completed in June 2008 and followed by the Cassini Equinox Mission that finished in September 2010.

Now, the healthy spacecraft is seeking to make new discoveries in a second extended mission called the Cassini Solstice Mission, which will be completed in 2017.