What is the Colossal hurricane-like storm seen on Saturn?
920476
The Scientists don't know yet, so if they don't know we don't know. We can only guess to what it is.\n\n\nScientists said it was unclear whether Saturn's storm was a water-driven system.\n\nIt differs from Earth hurricanes in part because it remains stuck at the pole rather than drifting as such storms do on this planet and because it did not form over a liquid water ocean, with Saturn being a gaseous planet, NASA said.\n\n"It looks like a hurricane, but it doesn't behave like a hurricane," Andrew Ingersoll, a member of Cassini's imaging team at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement. "Whatever it is, we're going to focus on the eye of this storm and find out why it's there."\n\nFlasar said scientists have more work ahead to understand the Saturn storm.\n\n"I'm hoping that as we puzzle over it, it will become even more exciting as we start to connect the dots in our brains. But right now, the wheels are a little creaky," Flasar said. "We're all arguing with each other about what it might or might not be."
42373
The formation of tropical cyclones (hurricanes) is the topic of extensive ongoing research, and is still not fully understood, however, there is a reasonably good article here to read up on current theories...\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane
314728
The terms "hurricane" and "typhoon" are regionally specific names for a strong "tropical cyclone". A tropical cyclone is the generic term for a non-frontal synoptic scale low-pressure system over tropical or sub-tropical waters with organized convection (i.e. thunderstorm activity) and definite cyclonic surface wind circulation (Holland 1993). \n\nTropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph) are called "tropical depressions" (This is not to be confused with the condition mid-latitude people get during a long, cold and grey winter wishing they could be closer to the equator ;-)). Once the tropical cyclone reaches winds of at least 17 m/s (34 kt, 39 mph) they are typically called a "tropical storm" and assigned a name. If winds reach 33 m/s (64 kt, 74 mph)), then they are called: \n\n"hurricane" (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the dateline, or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E) \n"typhoon" (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the dateline) \n"severe tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E) \n"severe cyclonic storm" (the North Indian Ocean) \n"tropical cyclone" (the Southwest Indian Ocean)
935079
Actually, you could not stand on the surface of Jupiter as it made up entirely of gas.  And if you were to look up from inside of the storm of swirling cold gases you would see a storm as far as the eye could see.  The storm is over 15,000 miles wide and the winds exceed 200 mph.  Unfortunately, you wouldn't see much because the storm would tear you apart!
277515
Extreme?\n\nCaught on a caribbean island in the middle of a class 5 hurricane with 250mph winds, a 30ft storm surge while pinned in a 2 story condo 10 feet above sea level.\n\nDon't believe me?  I took video: http://www.youtube.com/user/Brythonic
761629
Hurricanes (Atlantic Ocean) and typhoons (Pacific Ocean) are both cyclonic large low pressure cells exceeding a certain sustained wind speed.  Storms are similar, but smaller and with less sustained winds.  Sailors use the Beaufort Scale to separate intensity of weather systems.
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Check the first link for the pics.\n\nSaturn's equator is tilted relative to its orbit by 27 degrees, very similar to the 23-degree tilt of the Earth. As Saturn moves along its orbit, first one hemisphere, then the other is tilted towards the Sun. This cyclical change causes seasons on Saturn, just as the changing orientation of Earth's tilt causes seasons on our planet. The first image in this sequence, on the lower left, was taken soon after the autumnal equinox in Saturn's Northern Hemisphere (which is the same as the spring equinox in its Southern Hemisphere). By the final image in the sequence, on the upper right, the tilt is nearing its extreme, or winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere).\n\nAstronomers are studying this set of images to investigate the detailed variations in the color and brightness of the rings. They hope to learn more about the rings' composition, how they were formed, and how long they might last. Saturn's rings are incredibly thin, with a thickness of only about 30 feet (10 meters). The rings are made of dusty water ice, in the form of boulder-sized and smaller chunks that gently collide with each other as they orbit around Saturn. Saturn's gravitational field constantly disrupts these ice chunks, keeping them spread out and preventing them from combining to form a moon. The rings, as shown here, have a slight pale reddish color due to the presence of organic material mixed with the water ice.\n\nSaturn is about 75,000 miles (120,000 km) across, and is flattened at the poles because of its very rapid rotation. A day is only 10 hours long on Saturn. Strong winds account for the horizontal bands in the atmosphere of this giant gas planet. The delicate color variations in the clouds are due to smog in the upper atmosphere, produced when ultraviolet radiation from the Sun shines on methane gas. Deeper in the atmosphere, the visible clouds and gases merge gradually into hotter and denser gases, with no solid surface for visiting spacecraft to land on. \n\n\nThe second link tells you something about Saturn\n\nst
30541
Mass solar ejections. Sun storms basically.
102507
Saturn's interior is similar to Jupiter's, having a rocky core at the center, a liquid metallic hydrogen layer above that, and a molecular hydrogen layer above that. Traces of various ices are also present. Saturn has a very hot interior, reaching 12000 K at the core, and it radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. Most of the extra energy is generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism (slow gravitational compression), but this alone may not be sufficient to explain Saturn's heat production. An additional proposed mechanism by which Saturn may generate some of its heat is the "raining out" of droplets of helium deep in Saturn's interior, the droplets of helium releasing heat by friction as they fall down through the lighter hydrogen.
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I notice the Tropical Prediction Center issued a hurricane warning for part of Florida, though it is not quite a hurricane yet. That is standard procedure if it is expected to become a hurricane, but for tornadoes one must exist before the warning is issued.\n\nAlberto is not particularly impressive on satellite or radar images. There is nothing on the SW side because of wind shear. Yet with recon flights and winds from doppler radar, scatterometers, and microwave sounders - if there is a 65 knot wind somewhere in the storm they'll find it. So a category 1 hurricane aint what it used to be.\n\nThere will be heavy rain and severe storms associated with it. There will be very strong winds - probably hurricane force at some locations - directly along the coast S-E of the storm center. Yet there is no chance it will become anything more than a weak hurricane in a wind shear environment over oceans not particularly warm this time of year.\n\nThus people affected should definitely be prepared, but if it is hyped too much people are being setup for a strong storm some time later which they won't want to evacuate for but should.
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Black holes do not "suck."  They have gravity just like everything else.  That said if you get VERY close to one (within 2 schwarzschild radii) there are no stable orbits that do not require continuous energy input due to the implications General Relativity (warping of spacetime). If the sun magically turned into a black hole tomorrow, the earth would continue in its orbit as it always has, but would be very cold.\n\nA small black hole in Saturn's atmosphere (ignoring for the moment howa sub planetary mass black hole could form and why it would not quickly settle to the center of the planet) would produce a large amount of x-ray and gamma radiation that is not observed.\n\nThe south polar vortex around Saturn is probably analgous to the polar vortices that form here on Earth that help produce the annual  ozone "holes" over each pole during their respective springtimes. \n\nJust because it isn't a hurricane, does not leave black hole as the only other option.  I am rather startled that what appears to be an excerpt from a popular press science article has this speculation in it.\n\nThe Saturnian polar vortex is different in one respect;  instead of forming in winter, this one is present in summer.  I think all you need is some sort of convection process near a pole to drive such a thing, but I might be wrong.
883747
And because giant planets such as Saturn and Jupiter are mainly gaseous they are probably failed stars. Pretty cool?! Astronomers are watching a surprising storm suddenly appearing in Saturn and wondering what is going on there. Astronomy is a fascinating hobby or profession since there is still so much to learn even about the objects closest to Earth.\n\nJLH
136560
Off the top of my head: both are "gas giant" planets, but Jupiter is WAY bigger. Jupiter has a ton of satellite moons orbiting around it. Saturn has that weird-ass ring going around it which they just discovered is not a ring but more a like a spiral. Jupiter has this storm that never ends, that looks like a spot. Imagine a hurricane that never ended on Earth. Also Saturn has a heavy core for some reason. You could probably land on Saturn, but not in Jupiter. I wonder what it looks like when you land there.
966354
A storm is any disturbed state of a planet's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by strong wind (a wind storm), thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm), heavy precipitation, such as ice (ice storm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere (as in a dust storm, snowstorm, hailstorm, etc).\n\nFormation\nStorms are created when a center of low pressure develops, with a system of high pressure surrounding it. This combination of opposing forces can create winds and result in the formation of storm clouds, such as the cumulonimbus. Small, localized areas of low pressure can form from hot air rising off hot ground, resulting in smaller disturbances such as dust devils and whirlwinds.\n\nYou could get more information from the link below...
531193
Centers of a cyclone is a low-pressure region. Near the center of the cyclone the pressure gradient force, from high- to low-pressure regions, and the Coriolis force must be in an approximate balance (or else the cyclone would collapse in on itself under the pressure gradient). The wind flow around a large cyclone is counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere, and clockwise in the southern hemisphere, due to the Coriolis effect. Large anticyclonic storms are extremely rare on Earth, though Jupiter's Great Red Spot storm is anticyclonic.
451499
cyclone: an atmospheric system characterized by the rapid inward circulation of air masses about a low-pressure center, usually accompanied by stormy, often destructive weather. Cyclones circulate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. \n\nhurricane: a severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin, and usually involving heavy rains. \n\ntyphoon: a tropical cyclone occurring in the western Pacific or Indian oceans.
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there is shear instead. This is a strong jet of air that is blowing directly over the cyclone, and ripping the tops off the deep convection. This has the effect of breaking down the whole mechanism. This is known as vertical, or southwesterly shear.