© NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science InstituteSaturn's northern storm marches through the planet's atmosphere in the top right of this false-color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
Nearly a year ago a small,
bright white storm emerged on Saturn's northern hemisphere. This storm has now wrapped around the planet, creating a colossal atmospheric disturbance that has become the largest storm seen on the planet since 1990. And the
Cassini spacecraft has been there to see it all.
"It is the singular distinction of being in orbit, and able to turn a scrutinizing eye wherever it is needed, that has allowed us to be present to witness this extraordinary phenomenon," said Carolyn Porco, the
Cassini Imaging Team Leader. "The storm has spread to become a planet-encircling colossus, a wide kaleidoscopic band of commingled waves, vortices, and eddies, all in continuous swirling motion .... a mesmerizing display of snaking, sensuous, churning, turning, chaotic, roiling atmospheric turmoil."
If Porco sounds like she's waxing poetic, she has good reason. The images put out by the
Cassini imaging team today are a "sublime visual extravaganza," and both true and false color images are gorgeous to behold.