Saturn storm pictured
The Daily Telegraph / The Daily Telegraph
08-Jul-2011

A giant storm raging on Saturn which is producing lightning bolts 10,000 times stronger than those on Earth has been captured by scientists in unprecedented detail.

The storm has caused a 'Great White Spot' on the planet which is visible from the Earth.

Observations from the Cassini spacecraft - combined with images from ground-based telescopes - reveal the electric spectacle which is producing a tempest so intense the flashes are occurring at the rate of up to ten times a second, say researchers whose findings are published in two papers in Nature.

Great White Spots are so-called because they are large enough to be visible by telescope from Earth and break out rarely - about once every thirty years.

This outburst began last December as Cassini orbited the usually calm ringed planet while a network of ground-based observers also monitored the storm's evolution.

>>>
recommended by Simorgh5555

Share/Save/Bookmark