Back in mid-December, amateur astronomers discovered an enormous new storm on Saturn. The Cassini spacecraft captured this image early in the storm’s history (it now stretches farther around the planet). The fluid dynamics of Saturn’s atmosphere are incredibly complex and well beyond our current understanding, but we can certainly appreciate the majesty of a swirling, turbulent storm half the size of our entire planet. (via APOD, Martian Chronicles)
Tag: Saturn
Recreating Saturn’s Hexagon
In the 1970s, the Voyager spacecraft discovered a hexagon near Saturn’s north pole that defied explanation for years. However, researchers have since simulated the shape in a laboratory by placing a fast-spinning ring on the top surface of a slowly spinning column of fluid. Fluorescent dye is used to visualize the flow pattern. #
