PIA14120: Taking the Temperature of a Saturn Storm


Taking the Temperature of a Saturn Storm

Caption:

Measurements by NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal temperatures in a high layer of Saturn's atmosphere known as the stratosphere and show the dramatic effects of the massive storm deep below. In these data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, red indicates warm temperatures in the storm region (20 to 40 degrees latitude). They shine like stratospheric "beacons" that flank the disturbance. Blue indicates cold temperatures over the central region of the storm. These temperatures were measured at a wavelength of 7.7 microns.

Background Info:

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where the instrument was built.

More information about the Cassini-Huygens mission is at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Saturn
System Saturn
Target Type Planet
Mission Cassini-Huygens
Instrument Host Cassini Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Atmosphere, Color, Infrared, Storm
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2011-05-19
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL/GSFC/Univ. Oxford
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA14120
Identifier PIA14120