For those scientists working on Cassini-when will the search begin for lightning on Saturn?

It's frustrating to go to different websites, where one says, "Lightning has been detected on Saturn", and another which says, "Lightning has not been detected on Saturn."

ARRGGGH!!!!

This extreme weather fan is growing impatient.

OK, I'm not a Cassini scientist, but I can quote from a JPL document :

during SOI "the Radio and Plasma Wave Spectrometer continues to listen for radio wave evidence for lightning from the planet, waves in the ionosphere, and large meteoroid impacts on the rings."

**keeps fingers and toes crossed**

The suspense is killing me!! :P

Can anyone tell I'm impatient??

After what was discovered on Jupiter by Galileo, I'm hoping lightning strikes twice with Cassini. ops: :wink:

Impatient? I'd say fixated! :roll:

__________________
Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

It would have been really cool if the probe that Galelio sent into Jupiter's atmosphere took some pictures. I always wondered what does the sky look like on a gas giant.

Guilty as charged. ops:

On Cassini there is a device called the "RPWS" which is short for Radio and Plasma Wave Science.

In the 1980/81 flyby mission, Voyager detected violent radio outbursts that likely indicated super thunderbolts in the atmosphere of Saturn. Voyager was not equiped to track the thunder along the planet's rotation.

The RPWS on Cassini however has direction finding capability. The large radio bursts might then be tied to Saturn's gigantic thunderbolts through this equipment, if there is a connection.

You can read more about this in the July cover story from Sky & Telescope magazine.

Thanks a bunch-will check it out.