SCIENCE : Gas Cloud Almost Circles Saturn
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From Times Wire Services
Saturn has apparently “burped” a gigantic storm that spewed a cloud of ammonia gas crystals that has encircled nearly the entire mammoth planet, scientists said today.
The unusual storm was first spotted in September by amateur astronomers, prompting excited scientists to persuade NASA to allow them to use the Hubble Space Telescope to photograph the area in detail earlier this month.
“It turned out it became something very special,” said James Westphal of Caltech in Pasadena at a news conference at NASA headquarters where the images were released.
The storm, about 150 miles above Saturn’s normal upper atmosphere, was about three times the diameter of Earth when it was first detected on Saturn’s equator in September.
