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So you think this week's East Coast snowstorm is a biggie? Get a load of the monster storm system that astronomers are seeing on Saturn. Some astronomers have suggested that this is shaping up as a "Great White Spot" — a rare occurrence on the ringed planet — and now the Cassini orbiter has gotten its first good look at the phenomenon.
"Just down on the ground today ... our cameras on Cassini have captured sight of a gigantic storm recently erupted in the northern hemisphere of Saturn," the Space Science Institute's Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini's imaging team, wrote in an e-mail advisory. "This storm has been sighted by the amateurs in recent weeks, but Cassini was finally in a position to take a splendid series of pictures of it. And what a storm it is! ... It only goes to show: It pays to have a sophisticated observatory in orbit around Saturn."
Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley was among the first to catch sight of the storm, and shared a picture of it last week. Another accomplished amateur, Chris Go, sent in a picture from the Philippines. And still more pictures are coming in to UnmannedSpaceflight.com's Saturn forum.
In her report for Universe Today, Nancy Atkinson quoted Wesley as saying that this is the "brightest Saturn storm in decades."
"If you get a chance to see it visually, then take it," Wesley said in his forum post, "it may be one of the rare 'Great White Spot' outbreaks on Saturn. Personally, I think it's just jealous of its big brother for taking all the attention lately."
Wesley is referring to the storm activity on Jupiter, which he and Go have had a hand in documenting. Most recently, astronomers have been noting the reappearance of the giant planet's Southern Equatorial Belt, a stripe of clouds that faded from view several months earlier.
If this flare-up on Saturn really does qualify as a Great White Spot, that could add a fresh twist to a long-simmering mystery: Why and when do such storms arise? The "Spot" storms are thought to be caused by an dramatic upwelling of material from lower levels of Saturn's atmosphere, perhaps related to thermal instability. They can become so powerful that the spot stretches into a stripe, lengthening enough to encircle the planet.
The current thinking is that classic Great White Spots occur roughly every 27 to 30 Earth years, in sync with Saturn's seasonal cycle. The last major occurrence was recorded in 1990, although "Spot" phenomena have also been seen in 1994 and 2006.
Based on that schedule, some astronomer weren't expecting another classic GWS until 2016 or so. In the weeks to come, Saturn-watchers will be watching this mega-storm to see whether it turns into a great ... or a not-so-great ... white spot. You can follow along by checking in with the Cassini imaging team's website, NASA's Saturn Web portal, and UnmannedSpaceflight.com.
More about Saturn and storms:
- Saturn's hexagon, and other strange shapes
- Giant blizzard rages on Saturn
- Happy holidays from Saturn's moons
- How Jupiter changes its spots
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
Saturn is just soo darned dynamic!
Can anyone speak to whether or not there is any relationship between the gas giants "seasons" and solar maximum and minimum? Is Saturn's internal thermal instability related in any way to the overall output from the Sun?
Totally awesome!
I know, right! A person would be lucky to see this 2 or maybe 3 times in their life (if it happens every 30 years). People who don't care about astronomy may not be stoked, but this is indeed Totally Awesome!
deep down through all that gas, there must be something on the surface that causes these large thermal imbalances. More funding is needed to get more instruments out there. That means hiring more engineers....that would be good for the economy, right?. Sure maybe it is a volcano, but maybe it is not, without more data all we got is speculation...and that can't really be good...
Saturn doesn't have a surface, per say, it's a gas giant.
Gas has mass yankinyerchain. Every atom has mass. Every atom has gravity. If you put two atoms of hydrogen anywhere near each other in a vacuum eventually the two would come together due to their gravity. Every object with mass attracts every other object with mass.
by suface I do mean solid, although most of us usuall refer to the surface of saturn as an interphase between two different density of gas, at least that is the current wisdom...but let's look beyound that for a moment...it has been hypothesized that at jupiters core is solid hydrogen which, as a large superconductor is responsible for the strong magnetic current around jupiter...at -240 surely most gases we know of condense, and or percipetate out in the form of a solid...after all what conditions would allow water to remain in a gasous state?...yep, heat and low pressure...that aint thar on saturn' vern...so I think it is perfectly logical to assume that what we have been taught about gas giants may not be entirely correct, as large gravitational attractors surely these gas giants eat more than thier fair share of cosmic debris, cabon nickel sulpher etc...surely it can't all be pulverized into gas then NEVER EVER aggregate into a solid again...if you believe that then at least retake remedial statistics, please....whatever these solid structures are (as I posist, others may be closer by considering this mass liquid, but at these pressures surely not gas) at these temps they may have unexpected properties we are not looking for by sticking solely to the standard model....just saying....
This sounds like it is akin to the great red spot on Jupiter, so it must be quite a storm. Nothing on our planet earth can compare to either of these. Then again, considering that Jupiter and Saturn are so much larger than our planet earth, they may not be so huge compared to Jupiter and Saturm afterall. Enough said!!
A storm? What does that mean on Saturn? Saturn as permanent winds exceeding 800 miles per hour. I doubt that is is a storm in the traditional sense. I would speculate that it's a sort of volcanic eruption coming from deep below. If you look at its white shape, it looks exactly like a volcanic eruption. The question is: What is the chemical makeup of this white stuff? Is it mostly water? I think a spectroscopic profile can be done by the satellite.
Since there are no volcanoes on Saturn then what mechanism would lead to such an upwelling of material?
Indeed, there are no volcanoes on Saturn. Hundreds of miles below the gas surface, there's a liquid surface (enveloping the whole planet) composed of liquid hydrogen, under incredible pressures. Far below that, you get to another layer of a substance called liquid metallic hydrogen. The pressures are so extreme that the hydregen atoms are compressed and squeezed so tight they conduct electricity with the greatest of ease. I would speculate there are magnetic currents at work which periodically manage to rise to the surface, working against the strong gravity field enveloping Saturn. Uber-cool stuff.
Pretty awesome.
The winds on Saturn have been calculated at 800MPH +/- 20%..... As much as I find the existence of the "storm" to be incredible... I struggle with the actual physics... is the "Storm" stationary? If so... how can that be possible in 800MPH winds? Saturn has no "Solid Surface" only gas compressed to differing states of compression... where does the "Upwelling" or "Circulation" begin? how does it maintain shape and continuity in such violent forces?
Just imagine if Humans could understand the ability for any sort of structure to keep its integrity under such forces... Imagine if we could get a handle on the fluid dynamics of such an event and use it to create energy on Earth.....My God.... we know nothing...... Yet kill programs like Aries 1 because it doesn't align with our political agenda.... Fools.
Ares 1 is not dead. Constellation has merely become the "flexible path". Ares 1 would launch the Orion crew vehicle. Orion is still part of the plan and if you've read the legislation that was recently passed into law then you know that the government does not want to waste the progress that has already been made in the Constellation program. All usable elements will be retooled to align with the flexible path. Regardless, the political agendas change every two years (if not more often), so there's no reason to worry, progress will be made no matter who's in office. NASA is good for America.
Anyhow, if the storm is stationary that would mean there is some stationary layer beneath the out layer of Saturn where this upwelling is coming from. And it's such a large upwelling that the 800 mile an hour winds only strip away a certain amount of the storm. I hope the storm pick up and becomes the white stripe that will encircle the gas giant. That would be something!
Must be global warming. je je je
Looks more like a sperm cell trying to penetrate an egg cell. Maybe the universe is one big uterus. Uranus makes a lot more sense now too!
;)
Uranus makes no sense to me
Maybe you should search Uranus for Klingons
Maybe it signals the birth of a new planet!
what the hell does the xmas shopping advert fit with all that... consumers are supposed not to give a damn for planets, cosmic space or knowledge whatsoever? profit just prevails on everything.
Sooooo..... does anyone else think this might be the result of "solar warming"? ha,ha,ha,ha.......Carbon credit Al is going from global to universal!!!
So many assumptions written with such facille ease. These are conversational tactics referring to the ragged edge of possible knowledge right now. An emminence front? Snootiness based on perceived access to truth?
This is what drives business, does it also drive science?
i dont know anything about this besides your all wrong
I didn't write this. I left my window open at work and a co-worker thought it was funny. It is kinda funny but oh well.
Happy New Year Everyone!!