A Huge Storm on Saturn's South Pole

[Fraser]

This photograph shows a swirling vortex around Saturn's southern pole. This "hurricane" is approximately 8,000 km (5,000 miles) across, and has a well-developed eye ringed by clouds. NASA's Cassini spacecraft had the perfect perspective when it took this photograph, seeing right down into the storm, and capturing the shadows cast by the surrounding clouds. This funnel of clouds allows scientists to look deeper into Saturn's atmosphere than anywhere else on the planet.

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[joedoe]

What powers this monster??

This pole vortex on Saturn might have been raging for billions of years and is not expected to drift off the pole.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061113.html