PIA01379: Saturnian Atmospheric Storm
 Target Name:  Saturn
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Voyager
 Spacecraft:  Voyager 2
 Instrument:  VG ISS - Wide Angle
 Product Size:  404 x 665 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Producer ID:  P23939
 Addition Date:  1998-11-17
 Primary Data Set:  Voyager EDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA01379.tif (609.9 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA01379.jpg (18.68 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

A vortex, or large atmospheric storm, is visible at 74` north latitude in this color composite of Voyager 2 Saturn images obtained Aug. 25, 1979 from a range of 1 million kilometers (620,000 miles). Three wide-angle-camera images taken through green, orange and blue filters were used. This particular storm system seems to be one of the few large-scale structures in Saturn's polar region, which otherwise is dominated by much smaller-scale features suggesting convection. The darker, bluish structure (upper right) oriented east to west strongly suggests the presence of a jet stream at these high latitudes. The appearance of a strong east-west flow in the polar-region could have a major influence on models of Saturn's atmospheric circulation, if the existence of such a flow can be substantiated in time sequences of Voyager images. The smallest features visible in this photograph are about 20 km. (12 mi.) across. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1998-11-17