On Wednesday two amateur astronomers from Melun, near Paris, France, with a 12 inch diameter telescope and web cam, recorded this sharp image of the ringed gas giant and made an exciting discovery -- a new storm on Saturn.
The storm appears as the white spot visible here in Saturn's southern hemisphere (south is toward the top in the picture). In particular, the storm seems to correspond with an outburst of radio noise detected by the Cassini spacecraft. The phenomenon is likely similar to the Dragon Storm recorded by Cassini's instruments early last year. That storm is thought to be analogous to a terrestrial thunderstorm, with radio noise produced in high-voltage lightning discharges.
In a few days time the planet Saturn will be the closest to the planet Earth for 2006 - It will be only 1215.9 million kilometres away. Saturn appears as a bright yellowish star, low to the east-northeast as evening twilight is ending. It is the brightest object in the constellation of Cancer.
Saturn on the 27th January 2006
The famous M-44 “Beehive” open star cluster will appear very close (west) of it, if you look through a pair of binoculars. The planet is due west at 6:00am. After this closest approach (opposition), Saturn will rise before sunset and become an evening object while receding from us.
