The Dragon Storm is a giant thunderstorm located in
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
's Southern hemisphere, which is labeled as the "storm alley" region. The storm could have a range of or more, and can be compared to the electric thunderstorms of Earth. It acquires its
energy
In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
in the deep layers of Saturn's atmosphere and produces
radio waves
Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, typically with frequencies of 300 gigahertz (GHz) and below. At 300 GHz, the corresponding wavelength is 1 mm (short ...
that reflect during its burst of short static which helped ''
Cassini'' detect it.
The Dragon Storm (named in September 2004 for its unusual shape) is a large, bright and complex
convective
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the convect ...
storm
A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmos ...
in Saturn's
southern hemisphere. It appears to be long-lived and periodically flares up to produce dramatic white cloudy plumes that then subside. This is similar to the extreme conditions on
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
at the site of its
Great Red Spot
The Great Red Spot is a persistent high-pressure region in the atmosphere of Jupiter, producing an anticyclonic storm that is the largest in the Solar System. Located 22 degrees south of Jupiter's equator, it produces wind-speeds up to 432 ...
, an anticyclonic storm that has been continuously observed since 1830. The Dragon Storm is a strong source of radio emissions, which are interpreted by
Cassini scientists as electric events similar to lightning on Earth.
''Cassini'' detected a burst of radio emissions when the Dragon Storm started rising over the horizon during the night time of the planet. The burst came to a stop when it hit the sunlight. During the night time of Saturn, the storm starts; as soon as it hits sunlight, it completely stops. This pattern repeats, seeming to go on and off for a few weeks as Saturn rotates.
See also
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Extraterrestrial cyclone
An extraterrestrial vortex is a vortex that occurs on planets and natural satellites other than Earth that have sufficient atmospheres. Most observed extraterrestrial vortices have been seen in large cyclones, or anticyclones. However, occasional d ...
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Great Dark Spot
The Great Dark Spot (also known as GDS-89, for Great Dark Spot, 1989) was one of a series of dark spots on Neptune similar in appearance to Jupiter's Great Red Spot. In 1989, GDS-89 was the first Great Dark Spot on Neptune to be observed by NASA ...
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Great White Spot
Saturn's Great White Spot in 2011.
The Great White Spot, also known as Great White Oval, on Saturn, named by analogy to Jupiter's Great Red Spot, are periodic storms that are large enough to be visible from Earth by telescope by their character ...
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Oval BA
The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It is mostly made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts and include methane, ...
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Small Dark Spot
The Small Dark Spot, sometimes also called Dark Spot 2 or The Wizard's Eye, was an Extraterrestrial Storms, extraterrestrial vortex on the planet Neptune. It was the second largest southern Cyclone, cyclonic storm on the planet in 1989, when ''V ...
References
External links
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NASA article on Dragon Storm*https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia06197.html
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{{Saturn
Saturn
Planetary spots