And now the weather

[iainjclark]

BBC News points me to pretty pictures and video of Saturn, which has a vast hurricane 5,000 miles across and 45 miles high smack dab on its south pole. Which at the very least must make it painful to sit down.

Comments

[tinimaus.livejournal.com]

And it's stationary, and they have NO idea how something like that could form on a gas giant. Fascinating.

[iainjclark.livejournal.com]

There's something about the scale and mystery of the planets that always gets my attention - the fact that they're relatively nearby and easily grasped, but also constantly surprising and awe-inspiring. The whole Universe is like that to some extent, but the planets are something you can relate to your own experience - in this case REALLY BIG WEATHER. And then you look deeper and nothing about them is ever quite as familar as it seems.