DesertFox
02-07-2005, 07:03 AM
Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a volcano have discovered a hot spot at the tip of Saturn's south pole. The infrared images captured by the Keck I telescope at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island suggest a warm polar vortex — a large-scale weather pattern likened to a jet stream on Earth that occurs in the upper atmosphere. It's the first such hot vortex ever discovered in the solar system.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050204/capt.ny11302040632.saturn_hot_spot_ny113.jpg
In this image released Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005, by NASA/JPL, a mosaic of 35 individual infrared exposures made on Feb. 4, 2004, at the W.M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii, shows what scientists say are the sharpest views of Saturn's temperature emissions ever taken from the ground. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of the image is right at Saturn's south pole. The warming of the southern hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past southern summer solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were not expected. A small section of the ring image is missing because of incomplete mosaic coverage during the observing sequence.
The team of scientists say the images are the sharpest thermal views of Saturn ever taken from the ground. Their work will be a published in Friday's editions of the journal Science.
This warm polar cap is believed to contain the highest temperatures on Saturn; the scientists did not give a temperature estimate.
On Earth, the Arctic Polar Vortex is typically located over eastern North America in Canada and plunges cold arctic air to the northern Plains in the United States.
Polar vortices are found on Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and are colder than their surroundings. The new images from the Keck Observatory show the first evidence of a polar vortex at much warmer temperatures.
More (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=4&u=/ap/20050206/ap_on_sc/saturn_hot_spot)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050204/capt.ny11302040632.saturn_hot_spot_ny113.jpg
In this image released Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005, by NASA/JPL, a mosaic of 35 individual infrared exposures made on Feb. 4, 2004, at the W.M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii, shows what scientists say are the sharpest views of Saturn's temperature emissions ever taken from the ground. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of the image is right at Saturn's south pole. The warming of the southern hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past southern summer solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were not expected. A small section of the ring image is missing because of incomplete mosaic coverage during the observing sequence.
The team of scientists say the images are the sharpest thermal views of Saturn ever taken from the ground. Their work will be a published in Friday's editions of the journal Science.
This warm polar cap is believed to contain the highest temperatures on Saturn; the scientists did not give a temperature estimate.
On Earth, the Arctic Polar Vortex is typically located over eastern North America in Canada and plunges cold arctic air to the northern Plains in the United States.
Polar vortices are found on Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and are colder than their surroundings. The new images from the Keck Observatory show the first evidence of a polar vortex at much warmer temperatures.
More (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=753&e=4&u=/ap/20050206/ap_on_sc/saturn_hot_spot)