Saturn storm "almost unbelievable"

Marked by cloud cover wider than the entire Earth, the Saturn tempest in early 2011 also boasted the "largest and hottest stratospheric vortex ever detected in our solar system" and a mysterious explosion in ethylene production.

But wait, there's more: At one point NASA's Cassini orbiter detected on Saturn an "almost unbelievable" regional temperature spike of 150 degrees Fahrenheit (84 degrees Celsius)-the biggest jump ever recorded in our solar system- NASA announced Thursday.

To get an idea of just how extreme the temperature spike was, imagine teleporting from northern Alaska in winter to the Mojave Desert in summertime-a change of some 150 degrees Fahrenheit (84 degrees Celsius).

"We were quite shocked when we detected the temperature change-nothing like that was ever observed before," said University of Maryland research scientist Brigette Hesman, part of the Cassini team. "It was not at all what we expected."

Accompanying the huge temperature change was the formation of a vast deposit of the hydrocarbon gas ethylene, a byproduct of methane previously seen only in trace amounts in the Saturn atmosphere. How ethylene became so prevalent is a mystery, Kazinform quotes National Geographic.

"We know this was all caused by a big storm in the lower atmosphere," where temperatures are warm enough for water to condense and form clouds, Hesman said.

But as for how the storm managed to spawn so many oddities? "We'll be studying this one for years to try to figure it out."

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