The spacecraft “Cassini” observed on Saturn a certain the likeness of Ouroboros – the mythical serpent who overtook and ate own tail. NASA Image Set Shows Evolution a giant storm that girdled the entire planet and raged before those until the head swallowed itself. Nothing like scientists before still not seen in nature.
Photos from open sources
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NASA published a report on this event in late January, although before scientists are still debating its causes.
Ouroboros is a snake biting its tail. This is the oldest symbol whose origin is not known for certain.
A photo from open sources
Image of uroboros in the alchemical treatise of 1478 © Theodore Pelicanos | Wikipedia
In the pictures of the probe “Cassini” visible storm, which also devours its tail until it disappears altogether. Scientists first observed this phenomenon in the solar system.
A photo from open sources
© NASA
“This storm behaves like an earthly tropical hurricane, but still with a unique highlight, said Andrew Ingersoll, a member of the team Cassini of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who is a co-author of an article published in a journal Ikarus. – Even the giant storms on Jupiter do not eat themselves. Truly natural diversity knows no boundaries and is capable of surprise us again and again. ”
On Earth, hurricanes feed on the energy of warm water and leave in ocean footprint This storm in the northern hemisphere of Saturn also drew life from warm “air” in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Storm, first detected on December 5, 2010 and tracked by sensors “Cassini,” flared up about 33 degrees north latitude. Soon the storm began to slowly move west while spinning along clockwise. Within a few months, the hurricane closed the ring along latitude, breaking about 300,000 km.
A photo from open sources
© NASA
Earth hurricanes subside when they land or collide with other orographic obstacles. But there is no land on Saturn, which could stop the hurricane. Only in June 2011, when the head reached the tail, the convective storm subsided. Why is this happened, still remains a mystery.
The storm kept its intensity for an unusually long time – 201 days. It is estimated that convection is of such intensity 150 days would be enough to completely exhaust the whole atmosphere Of the earth. NASA experts note that it was the largest whirlwind in Saturn’s troposphere is 12,000 km in diameter.
A photo from open sources
© NASA
The Cassini Mission has allowed us to admire the power of this storm, – says Scott Edington, associate project manager, scientist NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena, California. – U we had seats in the front row on a wonderful adventure movie movie about alien nature. ”
This storm was the longest and most extensive in the northern Saturn’s hemisphere over the past year on Saturn, which lasts 30 Earth years. Prior to this, the longest storm was an event in Saturn’s southern hemisphere in an area known as the Storm Alley, recorded in 2009 and lasting 334 days. But then the hurricane was 100 times smaller in area.
NASA Saturn Life
