<p>A NASA satellite has captured rare, record-setting "burp" on the surface of Saturn in the aftermath of a massive storm, the US space agency said.<br /><br />Temperatures in Saturn's stratosphere soared more than 65.5 Degree Celsius above normal in the aftermath of a storm, according to data captured by NASA's Cassini satellite, which orbits the ringed planet.<br /><br />The ethylene gas—which NASA calls a "burp" — generated by the storm - was 100 times more than scientists thought the planet was capable of making.</p>.<p>"The temperature spike is so extreme it's almost unbelievable, especially in this part of Saturn's atmosphere, which is typically very stable," Brigette Hesman, a University of Maryland scientist who works at NASA, said in a statement.</p>.<p>"To get a temperature change of the same scale on Earth, you'd be going from the depths of winter in Fairbanks, Alaska, to the height of summer in the Mojave Desert," Hesman said.<br /><br />Data revealed shows record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated.<br /><br />Researchers at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery.<br /><br />Ethylene, an odourless, colourless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and man-made sources.<br /><br />First detected by Cassini in Saturn's northern hemisphere on December 5, 2010, the storm grew so large that an equivalent storm on Earth would blanket most of North America.</p>.<p>This type of giant disturbance on Saturn typically occurs every 30 Earth years, or once every Saturn year, NASA said.<br /><br />Not only was this the first storm of its kind to be studied by a spacecraft in orbit around the planet, but it was the first to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths.<br /><br />Infrared data from CIRS allowed scientists to take the temperature of Saturn's atmosphere and to track phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye.<br /><br />Temperature measurements by CIRS, first published in May 2011, revealed two unusual beacons of warmer-than-normal air shining brightly in the stratosphere.<br />These indicated a massive release of energy into the atmosphere.<br /><br />According to Hesman, the huge spike of ethylene generated at the same time peaked with 100 times more ethylene than scientists thought possible for Saturn.<br />The study findings appear next month in the Astrophysical Journal. </p>
<p>A NASA satellite has captured rare, record-setting "burp" on the surface of Saturn in the aftermath of a massive storm, the US space agency said.<br /><br />Temperatures in Saturn's stratosphere soared more than 65.5 Degree Celsius above normal in the aftermath of a storm, according to data captured by NASA's Cassini satellite, which orbits the ringed planet.<br /><br />The ethylene gas—which NASA calls a "burp" — generated by the storm - was 100 times more than scientists thought the planet was capable of making.</p>.<p>"The temperature spike is so extreme it's almost unbelievable, especially in this part of Saturn's atmosphere, which is typically very stable," Brigette Hesman, a University of Maryland scientist who works at NASA, said in a statement.</p>.<p>"To get a temperature change of the same scale on Earth, you'd be going from the depths of winter in Fairbanks, Alaska, to the height of summer in the Mojave Desert," Hesman said.<br /><br />Data revealed shows record-setting disturbances in the planet's upper atmosphere long after the visible signs of the storm abated.<br /><br />Researchers at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery.<br /><br />Ethylene, an odourless, colourless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and man-made sources.<br /><br />First detected by Cassini in Saturn's northern hemisphere on December 5, 2010, the storm grew so large that an equivalent storm on Earth would blanket most of North America.</p>.<p>This type of giant disturbance on Saturn typically occurs every 30 Earth years, or once every Saturn year, NASA said.<br /><br />Not only was this the first storm of its kind to be studied by a spacecraft in orbit around the planet, but it was the first to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths.<br /><br />Infrared data from CIRS allowed scientists to take the temperature of Saturn's atmosphere and to track phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye.<br /><br />Temperature measurements by CIRS, first published in May 2011, revealed two unusual beacons of warmer-than-normal air shining brightly in the stratosphere.<br />These indicated a massive release of energy into the atmosphere.<br /><br />According to Hesman, the huge spike of ethylene generated at the same time peaked with 100 times more ethylene than scientists thought possible for Saturn.<br />The study findings appear next month in the Astrophysical Journal. </p>