This eerily organic picture is not of some disgusting orifice, but actually an 8000-kilometer-wide hurricane… on Saturn! And if that’s not cool enough, it’s at Saturn’s south pole.
Still not cool enough? Then check out this movie of it (MPG, also available in QT)! The images to make the movies were taken by the Cassini probe, still orbiting Saturn and hammering away at it, grabbing all the science it can.
What makes this storm interesting to scientists is that it has an eyewall, like hurricanes on Earth. No hurricane with an actual eyewall has been seen on another planet. Also, the storm stays put: it squats over the Saturnian Antarctic, and doesn’t move like terrestrial hurricanes do.
Ah, another mystery in space! Yay!
So planetary scientists will be scratching their heads over this one for a while. They have plenty of clues at hand to try to figure this out. For one, the storm clouds reach up to 30-75 kilometers high (on Earth, that would be like 10-20) — if you look at the picture and video, you can see those clouds casting shadows inside the hurricane! Also, the air over the middle of the storm is clear, allowing a view deeper into Saturn’s atmosphere than usual– about twice as deep. Infrared observations from Earth show the south pole region to be about 2 degree Celsius warmer than surrounding air; another clue.
Could this be a seasonal storm? Maybe. As Cassini continues to peer at the ringed planet we’ll learn more and more, not just of what Saturn’s like, but also how its behavior changes over time. It’s a weird place, and there’s a lot of stuff left to figure out.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
[...] But if that’s not close enough to home for you, today on BadAstronomy, Phil Plait discusses a wicked cool storm discovered on Saturn’s south pole. This isn’t one of those big splotch of colors type storms everyone knows about on Jupiter–this is an Earth-like-hurricane looking storm with an eye that allows you to view down inside the planet’s atmosphere a ways. Oh man, so cool! http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2006/11/10/hurricane-season-on-saturn/ [...]
November 10th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
Cassini is too cool!
November 10th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Talk about exploring strange new worlds (even if Saturn isn’t exactly “new”)!
I actually saw this on NASA’s site today. Quick work posting it, Phil.
It’d be interesting to see what planetary meteorlogists come up with on this one. No doubt in my mind what’s learned there will assist in learning more here.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I totally agree with Wayne. When the first pictures of the rings came, with such an amazing clarity, it was unbelievable, and it still keeps us gaping at all those wonderful pictures and, of course, the strange things that happen in the saturnian system.
November 10th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Well, not exactly quick work. I got the email yesterday.
I wish I had more time to write up something sensible about more of the astronomy news alerts I get, but it would be a full time job– Fraser Cain at Universe Today spends hours every day on his stuff, for example. I just don’t have that kind of time, so I have to pick and choose.
November 10th, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I’m gonna have to call the BA on this one…
“Also, the air over the middle of the storm is clear, allowing a view deeper into Saturn’s atmosphere ”
Air???
November 10th, 2006 at 1:03 pm
I’m gonna have to call the BA on this one…
“Also, the air over the middle of the storm is clear, allowing a view deeper into Saturn’s atmosphere”
Air???
November 10th, 2006 at 1:55 pm
Dan Says: “Air??? ”
Well, what else would you call the composite gas envelope surrounding a planet if you don’t want to use the word “atmosphere” twice in the same sentence in different contexts?
- Jack
November 10th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
That’s really amazing!
November 10th, 2006 at 3:16 pm
I just watched the movie… I will now do your bidding…….
November 10th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
I resent the description “disgusting” when talking about this particular “orifice.”
November 10th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
BA:
How deep does this “hole’ take us into Saturns atmosphere? Can we, in different spectra, detect a liquid surface?
GAry 7
November 10th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
Who has time for scientific analysis or semantics right now—that mpeg of Saturn’s hurricane looped and in slow motion is just plain awesome—scary too.
It reminds me of the first pictures of Saturn’s rings transmitted back to Earth from Voyager One.
November 10th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
It’s wild how this gaseous vortex just stays in one spot unlike our ocean-powered hurricanes. It will be interesting to see what they come up with as far as the chemical composition. Extreme weather for sure!
November 10th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Puh-leeze. While the movie is rather cool, calling the atmospheric motion around Saturn’s pole a hurricane is ridiculous. It’s a boundary condition, or maybe just a standing-wave pattern. Interesting and worth study, but NOT a “hurricane.”
November 10th, 2006 at 6:40 pm
So…I just watched this movie. Did anyone else see little white specks here and there flashing? Is it my eyes, is it the movie quality, or could there be a small chance that we see lightning too?
November 10th, 2006 at 6:54 pm
Oh, for heaven’s sake, Eighthman, the CICLOPS people are calling it “hurricane-like”! Here’s their description of the storm: http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=2313
Tyler, if you read that description at the link, do you think it might have to do with the sun causing that flashing? I know from my lightning studies that Saturn has some awesome lightning as well. Here’s a page about that: http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1355.html
Space mysteries are fun.
November 10th, 2006 at 7:44 pm
I too am hesitant to call it a “hurricane”. It seems to me that while moist convection may play a significant role in fueling the cyclone, there should still be strong polar vortex characteristics present there. This might actually be the big brother of Earth’s more tropical-like “polar lows”, storms powered by convection like hurricanes, but still distinctly cold core. I am interested to see what they dig up in the future.
The warm air in the center certainly is puzzling. It could be a true warm-core, but I wonder if it might be related to Earth’s “sudden stratospheric warming” phenomena, where a temperature-vortex anomaly positive feedback causes the polar temperature to spike and the polar vortex to go haywire, sometimes breaking into multiple vortices and changing direction of rotation. That would definitely be something worthy of attention.
November 10th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
I think wind speeds of 550 km/hr qualify it as a hurricane.
November 10th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Well, so much for the fledging Saturnian real estate industry.
But there are a lot of things that can make fast winds. As rapidly as that planet spins, a little vorticity convergence goes a long way.
November 11th, 2006 at 5:05 am
You’re sure that’s from Saturn? That looks like the Ringworld eye storm!
Nick
November 11th, 2006 at 7:59 am
If I dare to pose a question here from a layman – BA says the wind speeds are 550 km/hr, but relative to what? Since there is no solid surface on Saturn, how are such wind speeds calculated? Surely if you were in the unfortunate position of being in the midst of that wind, you and everything else would be travelling at the same velocity, and so you would have no perception of movement. (feel free to scoff at my ignorance, but it does puzzle me.)
November 11th, 2006 at 9:33 am
So are tornadoes “hurricane-like” too because they have high winds? The Saturnian feature seems more analogous to the vortex of water flowing out of sink than a cyclone powered by convection — lots of gas crammed in a limited region. Possibly being an “inverse drain” if the air is coming up from the pole. But I guess calling it a “drain” wasn’t press-release sexy enough. Giant Saturn whips around in less than 11 hours; that’s a lot of shear at the poles.
November 11th, 2006 at 2:55 pm
Nice picture!
It’s like an eye!
November 11th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Knowing Saturn scientists will probebly have a long while to study it. o_O
That is odd.
November 12th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
If hurricanes on Saturn weren’t specifically mentioned in the Bible, do they still exist? Is the BA trying to tempt me away from my faith?
Seriously, what a cool pic/movie! Cassini/Huygens was a great investment!
November 12th, 2006 at 4:15 pm
Hey BA, the previous two posts are really a pain. I thought at first it was satire, then realized they’er just nut jobs taking up space. Please delete.
GAry 7
November 12th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Good thing a thing like this wasn’t discovered on URANUS south pole instead! The jokes would never end.
So what is this thing? How did it form without an ocean, and why is it stationary? How long has it been there and how long do they expect it to remain there?
November 12th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Baker
I only have a gig of RAM in my machine, those two posts were…lengthy
November 12th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Does the poster of that diatribe actually believe that anyone is going to READ it? Or take it seriously even if they did? The first two lines were enough for me. Summary: nut job – ignore.
Still waiting for an answer to my question though! Anyone care to tackle it? (scroll up a LONG way…)
November 12th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
I deleted those long rambling comments.
November 13th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
It’s got to be one of the most wonderful things of the solar system! I hoped it would be on front pages in newspapers. The existence of a swirling hole into the depths of Saturn: that beats science fiction!
November 13th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Regarding the description of “hurricane”, I suppose it matters how technically you intend to use that word. It is a giantic storm that dwarfs anything this planet could ever put out, so calling it a hurricane is an insult to the storm. But if you’re trying to find a word that most people can relate to, hurricane is probably the best common descriptor that people have. It certainly conveys the idea of a giantic, circulating storm with an eye.
Elwood, regarding windspeed I imagine you could do it with dx/dt. Measure the diameter of the storm. Calculate the distance around the circumference the wind it moving. Divide by the time to move that distance. Viola – wind velocity. As for ability to perceive the motion, it depends upon how turbulent the region is. If you have wide bands of consistent flow, then you won’t notice much floating along. On the other hand, if the winds are entertwined and spinning in all directions, then you will notice the force of all the varying currents. Sort of like riding a tornado.
November 13th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
Irishman – thanks (I think). I’m still unsure though – how much of the velocity calculated is due to the natural rotation of the planet itself? That is my point – if there is no fixed “surface” then what do you relate the wind speed to?
November 16th, 2006 at 7:56 am
How can there be a hurricane on Saturn. Does this mean there is air on Saturn ????????
November 17th, 2006 at 8:37 am
saturn is awsome
November 17th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Ralpjh: try reading thi sweb page about Saturn. Lots of info there.
November 17th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
wow!that is super cool!!=]