Saturn storm+animation Dec 26th

[Quark]

Hi All,

Imaged Saturn this morning in very windy conditions, but for my dome I would not have been able to keep Saturn on my CCD chip. The seeing was ordinary with the image sometimes looking flag like but with enough relatively steady periods to resolve the storm reasonably.

Have attached 4 RGB and 2 807nm IR images along with an animation of my 4 RGB's from this session. The storm really is turning into a monster and is the most unique feature I have ever seen on Saturn. Still waiting for some good seeing to get some hi res data of the storm.

Thanks for looking
Regards
Trevor

[DavidU]

Super images Trev !
That is one big storm.

[Kevnool]

Thats a great animation Trev.
The scale of this storm is massive.
One could possibly visually see this with a 7mm eyepiece.

Thaks for the pics

Cheers Kev.

[SkyViking]

Absolutely massive storm, I don't recall having seen anything like that on Saturn. Has there been any bigger storms recorded in the past?

[Quark]

Thanks very much David.



Thanks very much Kev, you would most certainly see the storm with your 7mm Ortho, its by far the brightest feature on the planet in R, G & B.



Thanks Rolf, this is by far the most massive storm ever detected by Cassini RPWS (Radio & Plasma Wave Science) instrument. The rate of SED's (Saturn Electrostatic Dischage)....lightning, detected by RPWS are unprecedented.

[Irish stargazer]

Wow! That is some storm. Wonderful images Trevor.

[astroron]

:hi:Trevor, would the Ammonia Cloud:question: in 1990 be classed as a Storm:shrug: as This event reminds me of what the event in 1990 looked like :question:
Petty cool images and the animation is superb:thumbsup:
cheers

[RobF]

Wow, that sure is a beast! Any wild guesses how long it might be visible for Trevor?

[John Hothersall]

Another good trawl and great to see the storm moving.

John.

[h0ughy]

that is big - wonderful work

[Clayton]

Great sequence and nice to see an animation.

[higginsdj]

Wow - very cool.

[Lester]

Thanks for the wonderful view Trevor, that storm is huge. All the best.

[Cosmic]

Wow :eyepop:....I mean that's an amazing compilation of images. Thanks for sharing Trevor.

[Rob_K]

Superb job Trevor, what a storm!!! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[multiweb]

Very cool stuff Trevor. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[spacezebra]

Excellent Trevor

I have been following the storm via http://www.ciclops.org/view_event/152/Saturn_Storm_Rev_142_Raw_Preview

Cheers Petra d.

[bird]

Excellent images and animation Trev - good to see you had some clear skies!

cheers, Bird

[Quark]

Thanks very much John.



Thanks Ron, there are 3 distinct cloud layers on Saturn. An upper cloud layer of Ammonia ice crystals, an intermediate cloud layer of Ammonium hydro sulfide ice crystals and a lower cloud layer of Water ice crystals. These 3 layers extend over about the first 200km.

From time to time there have been long lived cloud features at various latitudes on Saturn, however these are SED's ( Saturn Electrostatic Discharge)...lightning, related storm clouds. This material came from the Water ice cloud layer when some poorly understood heat source deeper within the planets forced material into rapid vertical motion resulting in lightning. This material continued upward, punching through the upper cloud layer and mushrooming over the top, this is the white cloud that we now see.



Thanks Rob, I have been involved in tracking these SED's related storms since Jan 2008, the longest lived this far has been approx 8 months.



Thanks John, yes, I think animations provide a better feel for the dynamics of the storm and atmospheric activity in general.



Thanks very much Houghy.



Thanks Rob.



Thanks very much David.



Thanks very much Lester.



Thanks very much Daniel




Thanks very much Rob.



Thanks very much Marc, a super Christmas present for planetary imagers I reckon.



Thanks Petra, both Bird and I support the Cassini RPWS (Radio & Plasma Wave Science) team with our data, they are part of the Cassini team as is CICLOPS.



Thanks very much Bird, just cannot seem to snag the seeing required to get some really hi res data on this , yet.

[Shiraz]

Great stuff Trevor. Thanks for posting the animation - really interesting.

[michaellxv]

Great work Trevor. The animation looks great.

[Quark]

Thanks Ray, I think the animation adds to the feel for the dynamic of it all. Problem is getting enough data to make one, at the moment there really is only a window of about an hour when Saturn is high enough and before dawn.



Thanks very much Michaell.

[samilag]

Trevor fantastic animation & pictures

waiting, from italy po valley, a day without fog and clouds to see this spectacular saturn' s behaviour.

samilag

[Quark]

Thanks very much Guiseppe, this is just such an amazing thing to see, I hope the weather clears for you to catch it soon.