(Credit: Cassini ISS/Del Río-Gaztelurrutia et al.)
This is a storm from Hell.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 17, 2010) — Researchers from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) have been monitoring a cyclone on Saturn for more than five years. This makes it the longest-lasting cyclone detected to date on any of the giant planets of the Solar System. Images from the Cassini probe were used to carry out this study.
"Cyclones -- where the wind turns in the same direction as the planet -- do not usually last for a long time, and so we were interested to discover one that had gone on for several years on Saturn," Teresa del Río-Gaztelurrutia, lead author of the study and a researcher at the UPV/EHU Planetary Sciences Group, said.