A Thunderstorm Bigger Than Earth?!

Tim sends in this article from Yahoo News concerning a thunderstorm as wide as the Earth now taking place on the planet Saturn. This huge storm began building last December and has now reached its' peek ferocity. NASA's Cassini spacecraft and amateur astronomers alike have separately documented what is now being touted as "One of the most violent weather events in the Solar System."

Storms of this magnitude seem to take place once a year, that's Saturn years which are 29 Earth years long, when Saturn is closest to the sun, which warms Saturn's dense atmosphere a bit. The storm is rolling the atmosphere of Saturn so much that a brilliant white spot has appeared.

From the article:

• The show is so big that it can be visible by telescopes from distant Earth. Five have been observed in the last 130 years. The last occurred in 1990.

For more on this unusual event, check out the Yahoo News article here

Cassini spots north pole cyclone on Saturn

Everyone is facinated by NASA's first string of robots and rovers on Mars... However my favorite is the oft unsung workhorse Cassini. Shaun Saunders sends in a story from Space.com about a recent discovery that Cassini just observed on Saturn. The spacecraft has discovered a giant cyclone swirling on Saturn's north pole equaling a similar storm observed earlier on the planet's south pole. Scientists report that either one of these storms is easily 100 times stronger than any cyclone on Earth. Conjecture has it that water vapor consencing lower in the atmosphere is forming huge thunderstorms and thus spinning up the gigantic circular storms. But the simularity to Earth based storms breaks down quickly thereafter. Unlike Earth's hurricanes, which stem from the ocean's heat and water, Saturn's cyclones have no body of water at their bases. The storms on that planet are locked to Saturn's poles, whereas terrestrial hurricanes drift across the ocean.

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Jupiter Grows Third Red Spot

Shaun sends in a fascinating article from Foxnews concerning curious weather manifestations on Jupiter. Its' well known Red Spot has had a smaller companion that was first observed in 2006.
The Little Red Spot, as it was named, shows both size and speed in threatening to knock the former champion off its perch, with Junior's maximum winds reaching 384 mph.

Now Little Red has been joined by a "smaller" companion. What is even more curious is the newer storms are not quite what they seem.

Thermal heat images showed that the Little Red Spot may already match the Great Red Spot for size, although the latter still appears almost twice as large on the surface of Jupiter's atmosphere when examined in visible light. Little Red Spot appears to be part of an interacting system that is actually larger than the Great Red Spot. The Little Red Spot has steadily gained strength even as the Big Red Spot shrinks. Astronomers remain mystified by the angry red color of the storms. The Little Red Spot only changed color in late 2005 after it formed from earlier mergers of three smaller storms. The newest third red spot began as an oval white storm.

Some have speculated that the increase in activity indicates that Jupiter is experiencing a warming trend and the additional energy may be causing more and more violent storms.

Huge Dust Storm Breaks Out on Mars

A major dust storm has developed on the red planet, blocking sunlight and prompting Mars mission managers to keep a close eye on it. It is not known how large the storm might grow, but already it is thousands of miles across. If it balloons, as dust storms have done in the past, it could hamper operations of NASA's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity. For now, officials don't think the storm will threaten rover operations, however. In fact, the windy conditions on the planet have blown off large amounts of dust from the rovers' solar arrays, giving them more power.

thanks to Shaun A. Saunders for the post

Venus's double vortex evolving

Just after it began orbiting the planet in April 2006, Venus Express spotted something resembling a double-eyed hurricane in the clouds over the planet's south pole. The mysterious double vortex in the clouds above Venus's south pole is thought to be a product of the super-strong winds that tear westward around the planet. But scientists do not understand why the winds produce a double vortex rather than a single one. The newly released images show the double vortex over the south pole is even more complex than first thought. Its structure varies with height, with the double vortex more prominent and intricate at lower altitudes.

Submitted by Shaun A. Saunders

Dust Storms May be Causing Global Warming

Scientists have been studying dust storms now for decades. They have determined that these storms has contributed greatly to global warming and the drastic shrinking of the planet's polar ice caps. But are we talking about Earth? No, Mars!

Computer simulations similar to those used to predict weather here on Earth show that the bright, windblown dust and sand particles affects Mars’ albedo—the amount of sunlight reflected from the planet’s surface. The research, detailed in the April 5 issue of the journal Nature, suggests these albedo variations play an important role in the climate of Mars. It could also potentially explain how global dust storms are triggered on the red planet.

Shaun Saunders sent this in saying that this ties in well with other articles posted here earlier on similar subject matter.

Bizarre Hexagon Spotted on Saturn

One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole.

Rather than the normally sinuous cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon.

The honeycomb-like feature has been seen before. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged it more than two decades ago. Now, having spotted it with the Cassini spacecraft, scientists conclude it is a long-lasting oddity.

he hexagon is nearly 15,000 miles (25,000 kilometers) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it. The thermal imagery shows the hexagon extends about 60 miles (100 kilometers) down into the clouds.

At Saturn's south pole, Cassini recently spotted a freaky human eye-like feature that resembles a hurricane.

The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn's rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain, which means nobody knows exactly how long the planet's day is.

submitted by Shaun Saunders