At the north pole of Saturn and found a giant vortex

A probe Cassini photographed at the north pole of Saturn giant vortex, the website reported NASA. On a whirlwind appearance, etched camera operating in the infrared range (snapshot was taken in winter, when the pole of Saturn loaded into darkness), recalls a whirlpool.

After a few pictures swirl through certain time slots, the scientists were able to determine the speed of gas in it. It is 530 kilometers per hour - about twice the speed of air masses in the fastest terrestrial eddy currents. Sam whirlwind surrounded by hexagonal honeycomb still unclear nature of education. Inside it is also rotating clouds at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour. Previously, Cassini has already sent to Earth images of strange hexagon.

Despite the seemingly whirlwind like Earth's, it has an entirely different nature. On Earth, hurricanes feed on warm ocean water. Vortices Saturn tied to poles of the world. The principal "source of power" saturnianskih vortices astronomers believe heat released thunderstorms passing in the lower atmosphere.

Using a probe Cassini astronomers have been able to get a lot of images of northern pole of Saturn. The size of the smallest entity that can see in these photographs, is 120 kilometers.