Saturn + storm, March 18

[bird]

Hi All,

Here is my first opportunity to image the new storm in Saturns southern hemisphere, in average-to-good seeing this morning for a short while. It shows up clearly in this image, in fact it looks like two storms that are close together, separated only slightly in longitude :-)

I've been a bit more aggressive with the enhancement in this image so that the storm(s) are clearly shown as well as various cloud detail around the equatorial region. Rhea is visible above the rings to the right hand side.

regards, Bird

[multiweb]

Amazing pic! Very cool. :thumbsup:

[Quark]

Lovely image Bird,

The sudden brightening over this last week was supported by the detection of a much higher rate of SED's.

This increase in activity has also been accompanied by a elongation in longitude which, for sure, could be explained by 2 storm cells.

As you say, certainly looks like it has split into 2 storms, back in 2008 the major storm of that year also broke up into multiple smaller storms but they were spread out over a larger region.

Regards
Trevor

[Troy]

Great pictures bird,
I like the colour of your first picture :D

[bird]

Thanks, it's certainly prominent - I could see the storm in the raw video as I was capturing, I didn't have to consult an ephemeris to find it :-)

It's possible that this can be seen visually under excellent seeing

cheers, Bird

[Matt Wastell]

Thanks Bird!
I was unaware of the current storm - great image!

[Kevnool]

Top stuff Bird.
Looks great.
Cheers Kev.

[bird]

ps have you noticed that the rings are brightening now as saturn approaches opposition? This is a well known phenomenon.

cheers, Bird

[Inmykombi]

Nice one.

The storm shows up " clear as"

Cheers