May 3, 2013

New images released by NASA this week depict an enormous hurricane whipping around Saturn’s north pole. Taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, the photos show a storm with an eye about 20 times the the size of a typical hurricane on Earth.

: In this handout image released on April 30, 2013 by NASA, the spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm is seen from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on November 27, 2012 in the Saturnian system of space. The false-color image of the storm resembles a red rose surrounded by green foliage which was made by using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light at a distance of approximately 261,000 miles from Saturn. (NASA via Getty Images)

: This image obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows the clouds of a hurricane-like storm, which circulate around the north pole of Saturn out to 88.5 degrees north latitude. The latitude of the bright ring of clouds is 89.0 degrees, which is about 587 miles (945 kilometers) from the pole. The eye of the storm is about 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth.Winds are measured by following small clouds over a five-hour period. The winds at the inner ring are moving the fastest, at speeds of about 330 mph (50 meters per second) relative to the nominal rate for the planet established by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1980. These winds are four times the speed of the Earth’s jet streams and more than four times the definition of a hurricane force wind on Earth. (Hurricane force winds blow at 74 mph, or 119 kilometers per hour.) The clouds at the very center are spinning rapidly — almost twice as fast as the planet itself, with a period just over six hours. The direction of rotation is counterclockwise, like a northern hemisphere hurricane on Earth, except there is no ocean underneath. A similar feature exists at Saturn’s southern pole, and it spins in the same direction as that of a southern hemisphere hurricane on Earth. However, the hurricanes on Earth begin in the tropics and drift around. The polar hurricanes on Saturn are locked to their poles. This image is among the first sunlit views of Saturn’s north pole captured by Cassini’s imaging cameras. When the spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian system in 2004, it was northern winter and the north pole was in darkness. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI via AFP/Getty Images)

: A false-color image from NASA’s Cassini mission highlights the storms at Saturn’s north pole. The angry eye of a hurricane-like storm appears dark red while the fast-moving hexagonal jet stream framing it is a yellowish green. Low-lying clouds circling inside the hexagonal feature appear as muted orange color. A second, smaller vortex pops out in teal at the lower right of the image. The rings of Saturn appear in vivid blue at the top right. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI via AFP/Getty Images)

: This handout image shows a natural color view of the north pole of Saturn, in the fresh light of spring, captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The north pole was previously hidden from the gaze of Cassini’s imaging cameras because it was winter in the northern hemisphere when the spacecraft arrived at the Saturn system in 2004. A hurricane-like storm circling Saturn’s north pole at about 89 degrees north latitude is inside the famous “hexagon” feature, which scientists think is a wandering jet stream that whips around the north pole at about 220 miles per hour (98 meters per second). It folds into a six-sided shape because the hexagon is a stationary wave that guides the path of the gas in the jet. Saturn’s rings can be seen at the upper right of the image. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI via AFP/Getty Images)

: This false-color image from NASA’s Cassini mission shows the spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembling a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second). (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI via AFP/Getty Images)

Monster hurricane rages on Saturn’s north pole
By Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times
April 29, 2013

Images of a massive hurricane raging inside a strange hexagonal weather pattern at Saturn’s north pole have recently been released by NASA, revealing a mystery inside an even bigger mystery.

The hurricane is enormous and violent–more than 20 times the size of the average hurricane on Earth, with winds gusting at speeds four times what they would be on our planet.

The hurricane appears to be fixed at Saturn’s north pole, rather than drifting around the planet like hurricanes do here. Also, scientists are still trying to figure out how the hurricane developed with no body of water below it. There are no oceans on Saturn; it is a gaseous planet.

But scientists were surprised to discover that Saturn’s north pole hurricane does share some characteristics with Earth’s hurricanes. For example, it has an eye, and it spins in the same direction — counterclockwise — that a hurricane would spin in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere.

Massive hurricane circles around Saturn’s north pole

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