The automatic spacecraft Cassini, in orbit of Saturn has captured a huge storm on the planet that stands as a major bright spot in the upper layers of the atmosphere. The phenomenon had already been found by amateur astronomers in recent weeks, but Cassini’s photographs have had to wait until the engine reaches the proper position in its path around the ringed planet. The storms are common on Saturn, but this, in the southern hemisphere, is enormous, experts say, and brighter than the rings themselves, says Space.com
“I’ve never been around like this,” said veteran photographer Anthony Wesley Space weather planetarium. “It may be the strongest storm on Saturn in many decades.” Apparently, they are creating lightning at multiple locations along the front of the spectacular atmospheric phenomenon. Although Cassini takes exceptional images from there, the storm is so big that you can see perfectly with amateur telescopes of medium size. NASA has released an image of the storm taken by Cassini’s camera on 24 December, from a distance of 1,793,518 miles. The photograph came on day 27 and still raw, not processed and analyzed by specialists. What will next year, says the space agency.
The Cassini spacecraft left Earth in October 1997 and reached Saturn in July 2004, after giving several rodeos in the solar system gravitational gaining momentum on Venus and Earth. It is a joint NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) to study the system of Saturn, its rings and its moons for several years. Left, with 5,700 kilos, is coupled to the probe Huygens, European, that fell off a few months in orbit of that planet and dropped in January 2005 to the floor of the moon Titan, in a historic mission that had a resounding success.