APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

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APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:05 am

Image 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)

Post by nstahl » Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:02 am

I like this one a lot. And yesterday's.

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by agulesin » Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:18 am

What is the little black dot below the ring's shadows? a Saturn-Spot by any chance? are we tracking them?

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by Ann » Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:37 am

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.

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by owlice » Mon Dec 26, 2011 10:11 am

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.
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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Dec 26, 2011 1:25 pm

Kind of eerie how the rings are so flat and their shadow curves with Saturn's surface. 8-) :D
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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by Boomer12k » Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:11 pm

Source of disturbance has been found....someone fuuted under the clouds.... :roll:

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by Beyond » Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:25 pm

Boomer12k wrote:Source of disturbance has been found....someone fuuted under the clouds.... :roll:

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....fuuted :?: :?: ....do you mean that someone disturbed Saturn's gas with their own :?: :lol:
Last edited by Beyond on Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by starstruck » Mon Dec 26, 2011 3:42 pm

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!!

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by Wolf Kotenberg » Mon Dec 26, 2011 5:46 pm

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.

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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by Beyond » Mon Dec 26, 2011 6:51 pm

Wolf Kotenberg wrote: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.
:b: :b: :b: :b: :b: :b: Here ya go, Wolf. 1-cold sixpack.
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Re: APOD: A Raging Storm System on Saturn (2011 Dec 26)

Post by moconnor6 » Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:56 pm

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.

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