Photo # 1 (Sept 2011)

SATURN STORM PANORAMAS

We are visitors on this planet.  We are here for ninety, one hundred years at the very most.  During that period, we must try to do something's good, something useful with our lives.  Try to be at peace with yourself, and help others share that peace.  If you contribute to other people's happiness, you will find the goal, the true meaning of life.
                                      - Dalai Lama

This tantalizing panorama follows a remarkable giant storm encircling the northern hemisphere of ringed planet Saturn. Still active, the roiling storm clouds were captured in near-infrared images recorded by the Cassini spacecraft on and stitched into the high resolution, false-color mosaic. Seen late last year as a prominent bright spot by amateur astronomers when Saturn rose in predawn skies, the powerful storm has grown to enormous proportions. Its north-south extent is nearly 15,000 kilometers and it now stretches completely around the gas giant's northern hemisphere some 300,000 kilometers. The panorama shows the head of the storm at the left and cover about 150 degrees in longitude. Also a source of radio noise from lightning, the intense storm may be related to seasonal changes as Saturn experiences northern hemisphere spring.

Just as humans have storms of emotions, so too do planets have their storms. One might wonder whether planets appreciate the peacefulness of quietude after a storm in ways that are similar to the greater appreciations we humans experience through the contrast of peacefulness that comes after a storm...
                                             - Dan Benor, MD