Astronomers Find 'Hot Spot' on Saturn

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/4/05 | Jaymes Song - AP

[NormsRevenge]

In this image released Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005, by NASA (news - web sites)/JPL, a mosaic of 35 individual infrared exposures made on Feb. 4, 2004, at the W.M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii, shows what scientists say are the sharpest views of Saturn's temperature emissions ever taken from the ground. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of the image is right at Saturn's south pole. The warming of the southern hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past southern summer solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were not expected. A small section of the ring image is missing because of incomplete mosaic coverage during the observing sequence. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL)

[RightWhale]

Interesting. Perhaps there is some starlike reaction going on inside.

[George Smiley]

Astronomers Find 'Hot Spot' on Saturn, Global Warming blamed.

[RexBeach]

Are there any waterfront lots in this hot spot?

[Darkwolf377]

Put some ice on it, Saturn

[TomGuy]

Who left the stove on?

[bubman]

GWB's fault!

[patriot_wes]

"Astronomers Find 'Hot Spot' on Saturn"

Great! More global warming nonsense. I wonder how much it's gonna cost us to fix this -

and of course China will be exempt.

[Lazamataz]

Saturn is becoming our back-up sun.

[Grzegorz 246]

Looks interesting, is there any oil ?

[advance_copy]

Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a volcano have discovered a hot spot...

Ummm, hey Fred, make sure you wipe the lava off the lense every now and then.

[henkster]

Ya beat me to it!

Oh, and yes, it's Bush's fault.

[billorites]

[ProudVet77]

Have thought for some time that Saturn would have become a star had it increased it's mass a few times over (maybe absorbing Jupiter). Binary star systems are fairly common out there.

[roaddog727]

I wonder if it may be a magnetic lines of force confluence.....

[billybudd]

Astronomers using a giant telescope atop a volcano have discovered a hot spot at the tip of Saturn's south pole.

Environmental interference, maybe?

[martin_fierro]

Poing

[ClearCase_guy]

I'm also interested in the wedge-shaped chunk that's missing from the rings. Do Astronomers have any explanation for how such a neat slice of ring-material could be suddenly removed???

it's a joke

[RightWhale]

Jupiter is already on the verge of starhood. Jupiter has rings, too, but very faint. Saturn is somewhat smaller, but there is something going on there with those monstrous rings. Maybe the warm spot is due to the planet swallowing a moon not so long ago, but how would the heat migrate to the pole?

[Rocket1968]

"Astronomers Find 'Hot Spot' on Saturn, Global Warming blamed."

Actually this would be considered "Universal Warming." It is a much more lethal form.