Zoom into Cassini imagery of the huge storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere. This image was taken on 25th February 2011, around 12 weeks after the storm began. The bright clouds by this time had formed a tail that wrapped around the planet. Some of the clouds moved south and got caught up in a current that flows to the east (to the right) relative to the storm head. This tail, which appears as slightly blue clouds south and west (left) of the storm head, can be seen encountering the storm head in this view. The storm is a prodigious source of radio noise, which comes from lightning deep in the planet's atmosphere. It is thought such storms are seasonal, at similar great white spots"" have been detected on Saturn in the past, usually when it is summer in its northern hemisphere, which occurs on a roughly 28.5-year cycle. The Cassini spacecraft was launched in October 1997, and arrived at Saturn in 2004." | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit : | Science Photo Library / NASA / SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE / JPL-CALTECH |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property release : | Non requis |
Durée : | 11 Secondes |
Aspect ratio : | 16/9 |
Restrictions : | - |