CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Swirling Vortex

Swirling Vortex
PIA 16723
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   This three-frame animation from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the swirling clouds in a vortex spawned by a great northern storm on Saturn. The clouds are moving in a clockwise direction.

These images were obtained by Cassini's imaging camera on Jan. 11, 2011. A map of the wind patterns can be seen at PIA16722.

The Cassini Solstice Mission is a joint United States and European endeavor. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 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 imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini Solstice Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Released: January 31, 2013 (PIA 16723)
Image/Caption Information