Planetary Super Storm

The World
The World

For the Geo Quiz, we’re looking for the planet explored by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Lightning is flashing in a tremendous storm that’s encircling the planet’s northern hemisphere. Scientists are calling it the “Great Northern Storm”: it’s apparently bigger than the entire surface area of the Earth.

The answer is the 6th planet from the Sun, Saturn. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Andrew Ingersoll, an atmospheric scientist at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena about a huge, raging lightning storm that’s encircling the planet as revealed in images coming from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn.

Will you support The World?

The story you just read is not locked behind a paywall because listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Now more than ever, we need your help to support our global reporting work and power the future of The World. Can we count on you?