Huge Storm on Saturn

[dmill1220]

Hello folks,
According to the News and on-line reports, a huge storm has been found on Saturn's south pole, and from what I have read, they say its almost as big as the earth and, has an eye wall just like a hurricane does, they are pondering if the huge Storm may be powered by moisture or convection, deep below the planets thick atmosphere.

Moisture on Saturn? that seems to be quite a leap of deduction considering that we are not even sure what lies beneath the Planets atmosphere, I am wondering if that storm has been there all along, since it took a flyby of one of our probes (Cassini) to spot it.

What seems puzzling to me is that the storm seems to be anchored over the south pole with 350 mph winds, because of this eye wall, it has given us the deepest view yet thru the clouds at what may lie underneath.

According to this article they have peered into the eye wall with several instruments and have noticed a temperature increase
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1109134926.htm
I'm wondering if anyone In this forum has any thoughts, explanations, theory or, conjectures, on this strange storm?
Dennis

[Diana]

Quite interesting and strange indeed.

Originally Posted by dmill1220

I am wondering if that storm has been there all along, since it took a flyby of one of our probes (Cassini) to spot it.

Would seem strange to me, I mean considering that Casssini has been around Saturn for about two years and has made various fly by's since then. I believe it would have been spotted by now.


Diana

[dmill1220]

Hi Diana!
Im Curious about all of the passes made by cassini and if they have imaged the south pole of Saturn during one of the previous Flybys.
I couldnt find any Info as to what sections of saturn have been imaged in the past, it could be that we have not imaged this area at all in the past flybys. i
If we had and, there was no storm present before, this really becomes an intriguing anamoly.
If thats the case I would suspect some sort of geologic Activity whether magnetic, Volcanic or a combination, especially since they have detected a temperature increase inside the eye wall.
Here on earth eyewalls in hurricanes result from convection due to warm water or moisture, but they move around and are not stuck in one place!
this is what makes me suspect Magnetic and Geologic activity over or under, Saturns south pole, maybe its a cyclic event and we just happened to be at the right place and time with a Probe. evidently something strange is happening at the south Pole that we have no clear and concrete answers to, or do we?
To my eye it resembles sort of a whirlpool effect, if this is the case it may be the reason why its not moving.
what do you think?
Dennis

[ozzmoziz]

that is very wicked hopefully it will get bigger, so maybe we will see a little deeper in the atmosphere, and ya like diana says its been there for 2 years would of spoted it for sure,,,

[Diana]

Originally Posted by dmill1220

Im Curious about all of the passes made by cassini and if they have imaged the south pole of Saturn during one of the previous Flybys.
I couldnt find any Info as to what sections of saturn have been imaged in the past, it could be that we have not imaged this area at all in the past flybys.

Hi dmill1220 !

Well yes, could be. To be honest, I am not familiar with exactly what sections of the planet has been imaged either. The only info I could find about it is HERE. The page contains the Saturn tour dates from 2004/2006.

I really did not have time to look through the whole page right at this moment, but I will tomarrow.........



Diana

[dmill1220]

Hi Diana,
I read that whole Itinerary for the CASSINI mission but unfortunately no info on what was imaged.
But im with you, I can't imagine them not imaging the south pole before, especially after all those flybys.

I wish I could be the proverbial fly on the wall at NASA as they theorize on what is causing this, and more instruments are trained on the storm
its totally wierd!
Dennis

[Diana]

From the news article that appears on the home page of this forum:

Explanation: What's happening at the south pole of Saturn? To find out, scientists sent the robot Cassini probe now orbiting Saturn directly over the lower spin axis of the ringed giant. Cassini found there a spectacular massive swirling storm system with a well developed eye-wall, similar to a hurricane here on Earth. One image of the storm is shown above, while several frames from the overpass have been made into a movie that shows the huge vortex rotating. The storm is slightly larger than the entire Earth and carries winds that reach 550 kilometers per hour, twice the velocity of a Category 5 hurricane. This pole vortex on Saturn might have been raging for billions of years and is not expected to drift off the pole.

Well, looks like that answers are question about rather or not Cassini could have spotted it before. From what I read, Cassini is just now exploring Saturns south pole directly over the lower spin axis.

You were right dmill !.........


Diana

[stuart]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Diana's right. The main focus has been in the equatorial plane, studying rings and moons, and not on the poles. I know that observations of the rings have been made at angles of 0 to about 47 degrees from edge-on, so Cassini's orbit is in no stretch of the imagination a polar one.

[Blue Fire]

Cassini continues to do magnificent work! Discovering this storm system on Saturn is just one more gem for astronomers to wonder over. It reminds me of "There is more between Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy." (Hamlet) Fascinating stuff.

[dmill1220]

Hi Stuart,
Did you read this whole thread?
Lets give credit where credit is due!
I surmised initially that this storm was there all along and, that they probably haven't imaged the Poles before.
my reasons?
1) for an event this huge to all of a sudden start within the time frame of the Cassini Mission ,would be a very very strange Phenomenon,

Dennis