Massive cyclones found at Saturn's poles

PASADENA, Calif., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- New images from the U.S. space agency's Cassini spacecraft reveal giant cyclones at both of Saturn's poles, posing a mystery for scientists.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration researchers say the newly discovered cyclone at Saturn's north pole is only visible in near-infrared wavelengths because the north pole is in winter. But researchers have now mapped the planet's north pole region in detail in infrared. Time-lapse movies of the clouds circling the north pole show the whirlpool-like cyclone is rotating at 325 miles per hour, more than twice as fast as the highest winds measured in cyclonic features on Earth.

That cyclone is surrounded by a honeycombed-shaped hexagon, which itself does not seem to move while the clouds within it are moving at more than 300 miles per hour. NASA said neither the fast-moving clouds inside the hexagon nor the newly discovered cyclone seem to disrupt the hexagon. The space agency didn't identify the makeup of the hexagon other than to call it odd.

New Cassini imagery of Saturn's south pole shows similar cyclonic activity.

"These are truly massive cyclones, hundreds of times stronger than the most giant hurricanes on Earth," said Kevin Baines, a Cassini scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The new images are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.