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NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI
Saturn's storm systems swirl in a near-infrared image captured by the Cassini orbiter's camera system on Dec. 24, from a distance of 441,028 miles (709,766 kilometers).
The storms of Saturn ripple through the frame of a black-and-white close-up captured by the Cassini orbiter on Christmas Eve and received on Earth on Wednesday.
"Close-up" is a relative term: When this picture was taken, Cassini was 441,028 miles (709,766 kilometers) away from Saturn, or almost twice the distance between Earth and the moon. Also, "black-and-white" doesn't tell the whole story: The picture was captured through the wide-angle camera's CB2 red filter, which brings out more of the variations in the cloud tops of the planet's atmosphere. For an even more dramatic illustration of the effect, compare the photos accompanying this report about Saturn's north polar vortex.
So what's black and white and red all over? This picture answers the riddle.
For more pictures from Cassini, including a top-10 photo slideshow and raw imagery from last weekend's flyby of the Saturnian moon Rhea, check out NASA's Cassini website as well as the online home base for the CICLOPS imaging team. You can also click through these additional stunners from the Cassini mission:
- Holiday treats from Saturn and beyond
- Orbiter spots an alien Nile on Titan
- Seasons change, and so does Saturn
- Slideshow: Greatest hits from Cassini
Update for 9:50 p.m. ET: I originally wrote that the CB2 filter was an infrared filter, but NASA says it's just on the edge of the visible-light spectrum, going into the near-infrared, at a wavelength of 751 nm. Good: That makes the riddle even more apt.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
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Take a look at the "Black" band of clouds... imagine clouds so dense that it does not "show" on Infrared. That IS a storm.... I never get tired of looking the planetary and space pics... Creation is AWESOME. keepem coming. TY Alan, Cassini and NASA... a "Stellar" year in pictures.
Thanks, Flame!
I would have to second that. So much of the news is bad, and accompanying comments petty or hateful. Keep up the good work Alan, your domain is one of new discoveries and wondrous sights. Next year is going to be great for those who love to look up.
I am looking at this picture and thinking
"Starry Night." Art meets reality.
Incredible.....
Those ain't swirls. That was a UFO, beamin' back at ya. Me and Eric Heisman was down in Mexico two weeks ago - we seen forty of 'em flying in formation. They've got bases all over the world now, you know. They've been coming here ever since nineteen forty-six - when the scientists first started bouncin' radar beams off of the moon. And they have been livin' and workin' among us in vast quantities ever since. The government knows all about 'em. They are people, just like us - from within our own solar system. Except that their society is more highly evolved. I mean, they don't have no wars, they got no monetary system, they don't have any leaders, because, I mean, each man is a leader. I mean, each man - because of their technology, they are able to feed, clothe, house, and transport themselves equally - and with no effort...They reveal themselves to us is because if they did it would cause a general panic. Now, I mean, we still have leaders upon whom we rely for the release of this information. These leaders have decided to repress this information because of the tremendous shock that it would cause to our antiquated systems. Now, the result of this has been that the Venutians have contacted people in all walks of life. Yes. It would be a devastatin' blow to our antiquated systems - so now the Venutians are meeting with people in all walks of life - in an advisory capacity. For once man will have a god-like control over his own destiny. He will have a chance to transcend and to evolve with some equality for all.
Could you send me some of whatever it is that you're smoking? Please!
Apologies in advance. These pics are amazing, and they will tell scientists much about Saturn. However, we are facing huge tax hikes and budget cuts, and I'm not sure they are worth selling more pieces of our soul to China.
Then cut the Defense budget by 1%. Just 1%. Stop building bombs and guns and do some science. Just 1%......
Every 3 or 4 months, the war in Afganistan takes as much as the whole NASA spends in a year.
Cassini is already there, and has been for some time. That money's been spent. What it takes to keep it running and analyzing data is a sliver of the total Cassini budget, which is a small part of the NASA budget, which is .5% of the Federal budget.
And if you don't want to 'sell your soul to China,' buy domestic products...to the extent that's even possible. But Cassini has nothing to do with that.
If you are going to cut the defense budget, please understand that well over 1/2 of the defense budget is entitlements.
am I seeing what appears to be a crater in the upper left portion of this pic?
No, you're not. You're looking at clouds that are at least hundreds of miles thick.
A crater? LOL ! Where were you when they taught about the solar system in elementary school ?
You know I always get a kinda creepy butterflies feeling when looking at gas giant pictures, this picture is no different. Suppose its a overactive imagination, because I imagine going down there amongst the storms, and see storms bigger than the Earth.
Looking at the picture its like looking a river or ocean, until you get closer and see huge freaking storms, massive lightning bolts, winds that would tear things asunder, and cold in many areas like you wouldn't believe, imagine you could survive all that, what would it feel like, the air would be toxic, full of helium and hydrogen.
Rain on the porthole of a hypothetical balloon or spacecraft, wouldn't be water at all, and touching that porthole with your hand you would feel cold, and only a fraction of the cold outside.
It's always been quasi frightening, awe inspiring thing, for me to look at a gas giant, this one was neat like that as well.