This is our first close - up scene of the massive hurricane swirling at the northern tip of Saturn , a tempest that features winds travel at a rate of 150 meter per second and an eye that ’s 20 times larger than the average hurricane on Earth .
The unprecedented eminent - resolution effigy were made possible for two reason . First , springtime has at long last arrived at the North Pole , lifting the dark cloak that had obnubilate the region for age . And secondly , the NASA squad changed Cassini ’s slant of orbit to permit for the view .
Image : A imitation people of color image taken at a distance of ~261,000 miles ( 419,000 ) . Red indicate low cloud and green indicates high one .
The centre of the hurricane is about 1,250 geographical mile ( 2,000 ) widely , and it swirls inside a great hexagon - regulate weather pattern . It ’s located at the very tip - top of the planet where it ’s lock in place and unable to transmigrate .
effigy : A natural color perspective of the tempest as it ’s illuminate by the sun . Check out Saturn ’s rings at top right wing .
“ We did a double take when we get a line this maelstrom because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth , ” say Andrew Ingersoll through astatement , who is a Cassini imaging team member at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena . “ But there it is at Saturn , on a much larger scale , and it is somehow bugger off by on the small amount of water vapour in Saturn ’s hydrogen atmosphere . ”
Image : False - colouring material picture . The eye is feature in ruby-red , while the fast - moving hexagonal jet stream appear in yellowish fleeceable . crushed lying cloud are feature in muted orange . The ring of Saturn are shown in vivd blue at top right wing .
The hurricane is a bit of a closed book as it ’s somehow being fueled by the accelerator pedal and jet streams underneath and around it . hurricane on Earth are drive by strong ocean water .
All images via NASA / JPL - Caltech / SSI .
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