Massive Lightning Storm on Saturn

Aielman writes to tell us Yahoo News is reporting that Researchers are tracking a gigantic electrical storm on Saturn that has released lightning bolts more than one thousand times stronger than those found on Earth. The storms where first spotted earlier this year from the Cassini probe and since that time scientists have recorded 35 consecutive episodes each lasting about ten hours.

Comments

Lovely Summer Months in Southern Saturn

[eldavojohn]

These storms (and their cycles) are old news. Hubble spotted them back in 1990, the only new information we have today is how strong the lightening is. From the Solar Views article:

Although these events were separated by about 57 years (approximately 2 Saturnian years) there is yet no explanation why they apparently follow a cycle -- occurring when it is summer in Saturn's northern hemisphere.

Now that'd be interesting to know how these storms work on a two planet year cycle as our monsoons and other weather phenomenon seem to primarily operate on single planet year cycles. This area has been nicknamed "Storm Alley."

For more information on how the bands that show up on Saturn reflect weather patterns, check out the weather section on this planet at NJU.

The planet's got 30 named satellites and the most prominent feature a belt of dust and debris. I'm sure there's a lot of factors at play here--probably more than our own atmosphere. There's a lot of talk about cosmic rays actually being the cause of lightning on both Jupiter and Saturn but this topic is heavily debated.

Re:Lovely Summer Months in Southern Saturn

[east coast]

I don't know if the two year cycle is as clear-cut as you're saying it is, given the relatively small number of Saturn years observed

That is the problem in research, how long do you observe something until you can seperate coincidence with what is truely a pattern. Look at global warming, there is a lot of evidence to come to the conclusion that it's human dickering but there is also the question of this maybe being part of a natural cycle. Until we get our hands on a large portion of first hand obsevred data it's going to be hard to come to a firm conclusion.

George Carlin once said it was arrogant of us to think that we can change the planet let alone save it. Maybe he's right. But for now you need to take the data at hand and start to work on theories about what might be going on and apply whatever solution may be needed. In the case of Saturn I think we're pretty far from needing to worry about it much.

Mage

[nmccart]

What level does your mage have to be to call down a lightning storm of that magnitude?

Re:Mage

[Rei]

Whatever level it takes, I'm sure that you can pay someone in China to level you that high ;)

In other news..

[Rob T Firefly]

Members of Saturn's DeLorean owners' association report that thanks to the storms, their cars are disappearing into Time left and right.

Re:In other news..

[Ekarderif]

Saturn doesn't make DeLoreans.