Lightning Flashes on Saturn
This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft - the first of its kind - shows lightning on Saturn's night side flashing in a cloud that is illuminated by light from Saturn's rings. Included here is a three-by-three montage of nine frames showing some of the lightning flashes. The cloud, whose longest dimension is about 3,000 kilometers, does not change perceptibly over the 16 minutes of observations covered by the 10-second movie. The lightning flashes are the bright spots within the cloud, and are about 300 kilometers in diameter. The lightning strikes last for short periods of time (less than one second before the time line of the movie was compressed). The energy output of the visible light from the lightning is comparable to the brightest lightning flashes on Earth. ASU-IPF-3088
Lightning Flashes on Saturn
This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft - the first of its kind - shows lightning on Saturn's night side flashing in a cloud that is illuminated by light from Saturn's rings. Included here is a three-by-three montage of nine frames showing some of the lightning flashes. The cloud, whose longest dimension is about 3,000 kilometers, does not change perceptibly over the 16 minutes of observations covered by the 10-second movie. The lightning flashes are the bright spots within the cloud, and are about 300 kilometers in diameter. The lightning strikes last for short periods of time (less than one second before the time line of the movie was compressed). The energy output of the visible light from the lightning is comparable to the brightest lightning flashes on Earth. ASU-IPF-3088