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Just as the regions of our planet have their monsoon seasons, or tornado periods, the same thing happens on Saturn, which also has its own storm season. Once a year Saturn or so – corresponds to approximately 30 Earth years giant, a storm boils and makes its way through the clouds Saturn’s northern hemisphere sometimes surrounds the entire planet, as if belt. Lasting for several tens of days or more, these storms were recorded in 1876. Sixth giant the storm on Saturn arrived a little early, beginning in late 2010, just 20 years after the previous storm. Dates proved the existence of randomness for planetary astronomers who have currently there is a special orbiter – Cassini, became an artificial satellite of this planet. And finding Cassini in a ring system, allowed NASA to observe real show. New study summarizing Cassini’s observations Saturn’s giant storm adds more evidence testifying that this was not an ordinary event. Starting at 2010, the storm lasted approximately 200 days and ended in 2011 Mr. She became the longest for the entire period of observation. Storm produced such an unprecedented whirlwind that could just “swallow” a planet the size of Earth. And she persisted until those until the “head” of the storm circled the entire planet from behind slowly moving vortices; their clash seems to be and ceased most of the storm. Cassini recorded the storm in great detail, as it both cameras, and a scientific instrument that fixes radio and plasma waves. The devices managed to detect electrostatic pulses from lightning strikes in the clouds. Kunio Sayanagi (Sayanagi), Associate Professor of Planetary Science at Hampton University (Hampton University), and his colleagues describe these observations in a study, which will appear in the journal “Icarus”. Sayanagi and his co-authors report that the storm, sometimes called the “Great White Spot” “Great White Spot”, started December 5, 2010 and lasted until June 20, 2011, although the end point of the storm is not entirely clear. Nevertheless, the duration of the storm firmly exceeds the large the storm of Saturn in 1903, which raged for 150 days.
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Storm Saturn in artificial flowers
Artificial color images made by Cassini in February 2011, include two mosaics of a wide storm band (lower panel) and a detailed view of the “head” of the storm (upper left) and vortex (top right). Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute The last storm took place strictly around Saturn in the group, which ultimately went around the planet at 33 degrees north latitude. On the front of the storm stands out quickly moving bright, sparkling lightning, area. It is called “head”. Following her is a giant cyclonic whirlwind that also formed in December and finally the “tail” of turbulent the clouds. In January, researchers report, the whirlwind reached huge dimensions – 12,000 kilometers wide, approximately equal to the diameter of the Earth. This vortex is considered the largest ever recorded. in the troposphere of Saturn, the authors of the study note. Although they indicate that the last vortex found in the stratosphere of Saturn (upper atmosphere), even more – about 50,000 kilometers. Both the vortex may have been spun by the same storm, “most likely as a result of planetary belching “- warm masses rose from the depths and curled around him in the atmospheric layer, “says Sayanagi.” It seems that the vortex is vertically stratified into two components, the tropospheric vortex, which we saw in the visible spectrum [light], and the stratospheric vortex, ” which other researchers recorded in the infrared spectrum. As of June 2011, the fast-moving “head” of the storm rushed around the planet essentially surrounding a tropospheric vortex, leading to a collision that effectively ended the storm. Lightning strikes became intermittent, and the bright clouds making up “head” disappeared. Based on the observation of past superstorms, researchers, however, predict that the consequences of the Great White Outbreaks will haunt Saturn’s atmosphere for years, maybe even decades before it ends. About the author: John Matson is an associate editor in the magazine. Scientific American specializing in space, physics and mathematics. NOTE NEWSCOM In November 2012, NASA’s spacecraft Cassini (Cassini) transmitted to Earth impressive images of a giant vortex in the polar regions of Saturn.
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The successful tilt angle of the device made it possible to capture the famous atmospheric phenomenon at the north pole of Saturn – giant hexagon. This is a huge atmospheric whirlwind shaped regular hexagon and 25 thousand kilometers across. This phenomenon was first discovered by the Voyager 2 device back in the 80s years of the 20th century, but then this phenomenon was not seriously studied. Again interest in the giant hexagon arose when in 2006 Cassini station transmitted images of the northern regions of Saturn. That the fact that the huge whirlwind remained in place indicates that that hexagon is fairly stable atmospheric education. Cassini had taken pictures of a giant vortex before, but only in infrared light, since the north pole was in the dark. But with the change of seasons, the sun began to illuminate the northern polar areas of the planet, giving the opportunity to capture the hexagon in the light of the day.
NASA Saturn
