How do we know that the winds on Saturn are at 1,000 mph?

Question

Did NASA launch a probe into its atmosphere? What was its name?

Are the 1,000 mph winds sustained or do they deminish at times?

If it is sustained, how can the planet remain in one piece with that much wind?

Only serious theories and/or facts that pertain to these questions will be considered for 'Best Answer'.

Answer 1

NASA prbes to Saturn include Pioneer, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 which made brief flybys. The Cassini spacecraft, launched in 1997, has carried out much more extensive surveys. I don't see any reference to a probe into the atmosphere, though.

Here's a piece on the winds:

Saturn's atmosphere has . . .changed. The equatorial winds measured by Voyager had a speed of about 500 m s-1, while Hubble measurements taken between 1996 and 2004 showed slower winds at a speed of about 275 m s-1. By observing cloud features, Porco and colleagues have now found an intermediate value of 375 m s-1, attributing the change to seasonal variations or cloud activity.

So to answer your question, the wind speeds change.

Although wind velocity is high, the wind direction is normally from east to west, with the winds revolving around the planet. They would have no effect on the structural integrity of the planet itself, apart from surface erosion, and the atmosphere itself is held by the force of gravity. So the planet is in no danger of not "remaining in one piece."
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Time lapse photography would be an effective low-cost method of determining windspeed.

The windspeeds likely vary according to local conditions and seasons (any planet with a tilt in its axis will experience seasons).

It's unlikely that the entire planet is experiencing the same wind conditions at any one time. Saturn is a gas planet, there is no appreciable erosion, plus it's gravity is strong enough to keep it together.

The winds would need to reach escape velocity in order to leave the planet--which for Saturn would be, oh, around 126,000 km/h.

Answer 3

ok..this ones hard and im just giving an educated guess, you are gona get a few ranging ansewers and i suspect unless that persons an astrophysisist there wrong, we have a probe called cassini it probabley just takes pictors of the surface and comares them to ones taken right after.