APOD 2005/2/25: Saturnine thunderstorm

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Axel
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APOD 2005/2/25: Saturnine thunderstorm

Post by Axel » Fri Feb 25, 2005 5:02 pm

From a (perhaps too) brief reading of the Arizona web page - the first link in today's APOD - it seems the experts have determined this is a permanent condition in a particular latitude belt of Saturn. Are similar thunderstorms known or surmised on Jupiter?


Axel
Ensign
Posts: 92
Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2004 12:41 pm
Location: Montreal, Quebec

Post by Axel » Mon Feb 28, 2005 2:42 am

Now that I've read a little more, it appears lightning is well attested on Jupiter. My question probably should be: are the lightning storms on Jupiter known to be as persistent as the big one observed on Saturn, and are their radio emissions similar? It may just be more difficult to observe them visually on Jupiter because of the deeper atmosphere. A broader question: is there any reason to suppose that the mechanism of large-scale weather patterns on Jupiter - their being fed by thunderstorms and smaller eddies - are different from those on Saturn?

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