wookie
11-13-2006, 07:10 PM
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2006 November 13
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/polestorm_cassini.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/polestorm_cassini_big.jpg)
A Hurricane Over the South Pole of Saturn
Credit: CICLOPS (http://ciclops.org/), JPL (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.esa.int/), NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)
Explanation: What's happening at the south pole of Saturn? To find out, scientists sent the robot Cassini probe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini-Huygens) now orbiting Saturn (http://eightplanets.org/saturn.html) directly over the lower spin axis of the ringed giant. Cassini found there a spectacular massive swirling storm system with a well developed eye-wall, similar to a hurricane here on Earth (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040915.html). One image of the storm is shown above (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08332), while several frames from the overpass have been made into a movie (http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2006/2313_6310_4.mpg) that shows the huge vortex rotating (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8112690528797127090). The storm is slightly larger than the entire Earth and carries winds that reach 550 kilometers per hour, twice the velocity of a Category 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale) hurricane. This pole vortex on Saturn might have been raging for billions of years and is not expected to drift off (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040919.html) the pole.
Discover the cosmos! (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html) Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2006 November 13
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/polestorm_cassini.jpg (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/polestorm_cassini_big.jpg)
A Hurricane Over the South Pole of Saturn
Credit: CICLOPS (http://ciclops.org/), JPL (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/), ESA (http://www.esa.int/), NASA (http://www.nasa.gov/)
Explanation: What's happening at the south pole of Saturn? To find out, scientists sent the robot Cassini probe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini-Huygens) now orbiting Saturn (http://eightplanets.org/saturn.html) directly over the lower spin axis of the ringed giant. Cassini found there a spectacular massive swirling storm system with a well developed eye-wall, similar to a hurricane here on Earth (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040915.html). One image of the storm is shown above (http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08332), while several frames from the overpass have been made into a movie (http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2006/2313_6310_4.mpg) that shows the huge vortex rotating (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8112690528797127090). The storm is slightly larger than the entire Earth and carries winds that reach 550 kilometers per hour, twice the velocity of a Category 5 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale) hurricane. This pole vortex on Saturn might have been raging for billions of years and is not expected to drift off (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040919.html) the pole.