Storm spied on Saturn
Dark blue centre is the eye of the storm at Saturn's south pole
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Friday, 10, Nov 2006 10:57
Scientists have identified a hurricane-like storm for the first time on another planet in our solar system.
Observed by the Cassini spacecraft, the storm at Saturn's south pole has a well-developed eye (the centre of a storm) and is ringed by towering clouds.
Scientists estimate that the storm is approximately 5,000 miles across, or two-thirds the diameter of the Earth. Distinctive eye-wall clouds were identified that have only been seen on Earth before.
"It looks like a hurricane, but it doesn't behave like a hurricane," said Andrew Ingersoll, a member of Cassini's imaging team at the California Institute of Technology.
"Whatever it is, we're going to focus on the eye of this storm and find out why it's there."
A three-hour movie taken by Cassini shows that winds are blowing around the pole at 350 miles per hour.
Towering clouds surrounding the pole are two to five times taller than the clouds of thunderstorms and hurricanes witnessed on Earth.
It also appears to differ from Earth's drifting hurricanes in that it is locked to the pole.
Further observations of the storm will contribute to scientists' understanding of the role seasons play in shaping the weather at the south pole of Saturn.