Well, Look Here!

Jupiterian storms!
Jovian storms, but on SATURN (via Cassini)!

Right before Christmas NASA JPL put out this image of what looks like Jupiter. Nice swirly cloud belts, a giant storm, cloud spots—all the things we’re used to seeing in the upper cloud decks of the solar system’s largest planet. Only thing is, this is Saturn! Good old bland-looking Saturn (the way we got used to seeing it in Voyager images) has some fascinating weather patterns of its own, reminiscent of Jupiter’s.

This view was possible by using Cassini’s narrow angle camera, outfitted with filters that made it possible to cut through the methane haze that can keep us from seeing the action farther down.

This kind of stuff is what’s so amazing about exploring the solar system with robotic probes. Every picture is like opening up a gift—you don’t always know what’s going to come out of the box, and when it’s something like this, you’re amazed and delighted. For the scientists on the Cassini-Huygens mission, that present arrives daily, and in fact, many times daily, dressed up as ever-more-detailed information about Saturn and its retinue of moons.

In less than two weeks, the Huygens mission will drop down through the clouds of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and give us the first-ever detailed looks beneath that heavy shroud. We can only hope it will be at LEAST as interesting as the new stuff we’re finding out about Saturn!