The bad weather is creating problems all over the world. Here in Bialystok, for example, there's a big snowstorm that does not wish it on anyone, and that is playing to the already bleached white Polish territory. But this is nothing compared to the white storm on Saturn, filmed by Cassini measuring about 5700 km in diameter. The storm, which appears as a white circular formation followed by a trail about 60,000 km long, was taken by Cassini on Dec. 27 last, at a distance of 1.6 million kilometers from Saturn. The white color seems to be due to the presence of ammonia ice crystals. "A hot air balloon flying at 100 km in the stratosphere of Saturn would experience a storm of ammonia ice," says Bridget Hesman, University of Maryland. "These storms seem to be fueled by violent cyclones that occur from 100 to 200 km below where they were observed lightning, and clouds made of water and ammonia. The phenomenon is similar to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, and was taken for the first time in mid-December by amateur astronomers. Anthony Wesley, already known to have recorded the impact of an asteroid and another storm on Jupiter, Saturn, was one of the first to notice the white spot, and take it with his telescope. "This is the brightest of Saturn's storm in decades. If you have a chance to see you have to take a picture, because it could be one of the rare times in which it appears a large white spot on Saturn," said Wesley. The "large white spot" on Saturn occur periodically, and appear to be related to thermal instability of the planet, as well as the orbital period. Appear approximately every 28.5 years (1876, 1903, 1933, 1960, and 1990), although there are cases where storms do not follow the orbital motion of the planet (as in 1994 and 2006).
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source: www.ditadifulmine.com
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