RINGS OF CLOUD: Images from Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft reveal a giant cyclone at Saturn’s north pole, and also show that a similarly monstrous cyclone churning at Saturn’s south pole, powered by Earth-like storm patterns. The new-found cyclone at Saturn’s north pole is only visible in the near-infrared wavelengths because the north pole is in winter, thus in darkness to visible-light cameras. At these wavelengths, about seven times greater than light seen by the human eye, the clouds deep inside Saturn’s atmosphere are seen in silhouette against the background glow of Saturn’s internal heat. Time-lapse movies of the clouds circling the north pole show the whirlpool-like cyclone there is rotating at 325 mph (530 kph) — more than twice as fast as the highest winds measured in cyclones on Earth
