A turbulent boundary between two cloud bands in Saturn's atmosphere curls repeatedly along its edge in this new image from the Cassini spacecraft
A turbulent boundary between two cloud bands in Saturn's atmosphere curls repeatedly along its edge in this new image from the Cassini spacecraft.
The pattern is a common scene in fluid instability, when two fluids of different density flow past each other at different speeds. This type of phenomenon should be fairly common on the gas-giant planets given their alternating jets and the different temperatures in their belts and zones.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 9, 2004, at a distance of 5.9 million kilometers (3.7 million miles) from Saturn. It was released yesterday.
-- SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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