Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!
|
 eatyualive
ExoCanibalist
Registered: 08/17/01
Posts: 1,521
Loc: In Your Head
|
 A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN 
#9239585 - 11/13/08 05:44 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Scientists say the northern lights on Saturn are unlike anything they've ever seen, on Earth or elsewhere in the solar system. Infrared imagery from the Cassini orbiter, released today to accompany research published in the journal Nature, only adds to the mystery at the top of the ringed planet.
Saturn's north pole is already home to a bizarre six-sided cyclone that planetary scientists haven't yet figured out. That observation marked the first time a hexagon had been seen in atmospheric patterns. The northern auroral displays, monitored by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, also go against the conventional wisdom.
On Earth and Jupiter, for instance, astronomers are used to seeing auroral arcs or rings of light - which glow when energetic particles stream along a planet's magnetic field and interact with the atmosphere. The auroras on Earth, also known as the northern or southern lights, are sparked by the solar wind. Jupiter's main auroral ring is powered by the planet's own magnetic processes.
Saturn's main auroral ring, like Earth's, is caused by the solar wind. But the newly observed infrared displays go all over the place.
"We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere," the University of Leicester's Tom Stallard, lead author of the Nature paper, said today in a NASA news release. "It's not just a ring of aurorae like those we've seen at Jupiter or Earth. This one covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurorae predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright one here is a fantastic surprise."
The Hubble Space Telescope has observed Saturn's ultraviolet aurora before, but the widespread infrared aurora wasn't seen because the region where it appears was hidden from Hubble's sight. Cassini, which has been circling Saturn and its satellites for more than four years, has had a much better view of the polar region.
The northern infrared aurora has been seen to change size and intensity dramatically as the solar wind varies. Occasionally, it fades completely away, over a period of as little as 45 minutes.
"Saturn's unique auroral features are telling us there is something special and unforeseen about this planet's magnetosphere and the way it interacts with the solar wind and the planet's atmosphere," said Nick Achilleos of the University College London, a member of the $3.5 billion Cassini mission's magnetometer team. "Trying to explain its origin will no doubt lead us to physics which uniquely operates in the environment of Saturn."
For earlier intimations of Saturn's weird light shows, check out this report from New Scientist, based on research Nature published in June. For the latest about all of Saturn's mysteries, click on over to the Cassini mission's Web site at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. You might also enjoy learning more about Saturn's spooky southern hurricane. While you're at it, don't miss our "Best of Cassini" slide show. And did I mention that Mars, Uranus and Neptune have auroral displays as well?
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archi...2/1671310.aspx
--------------------
Every piece of information or picture posted has nothing to do with reality.
Click 4 Eat's Reference Guide
|
Mr. Middle
Registered: 07/11/99
Posts: 6,522
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: eatyualive]
#9242514 - 11/14/08 03:36 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Planets have got to be lifeforms.
|
 Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 20,875
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 1 day, 9 hours
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: eatyualive]
#9249022 - 11/15/08 11:37 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I've seen that hexagon on Saturn before.
I was not impressed.
--------------------
After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
|
Sleepwalker
Overshoes
Registered: 05/07/08
Posts: 3,632
Last seen: 55 minutes, 38 seconds
|
|
I've seen that hexagon on Saturn before.
I was and still am impressed.
|
DieCommie
El Guapo
Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 22,787
Loc: Street of Dreams
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: Sleepwalker]
#9249315 - 11/15/08 12:38 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Oweyervishice said:
I've seen that hexagon on Saturn before.
I was and still am impressed.
|
mushroomhunter10
Jack-Of-All-Trades
Registered: 10/04/08
Posts: 3,357
Loc: Midwest
Last seen: 9 months, 11 days
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: Sleepwalker]
#9249356 - 11/15/08 12:45 PM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Wouldn't you laugh if it was a sentient fungus?
--------------------
Imagine if you needed it and it wasn't there... GIVE BLOOD
Get a free (PAINLESS) bone marrow testing kit and help save lives HERE.
Jesus if you're reading this, please come back already. We need you now more than ever!
The U.S. Constitution!
Best WBS Tek
Potato-Honey Agar Tek
MY TRADES
|
Mr. Middle
Registered: 07/11/99
Posts: 6,522
|
|
Quote:
Madtowntripper said:
I've seen that hexagon on Saturn before.
I was not impressed.
Saturn is'nt there to impress you. 
Did you notice how the aurora is also breaking the known laws of physics?
|
Seuss
Error: divide byzero
Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,193
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 22 hours, 26 minutes
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: Mr. Middle]
#9258668 - 11/17/08 05:24 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
> Did you notice how the aurora is also breaking the known laws of physics?
Which known law of physics is being broken?
--------------------
Just another spore in the wind.
|
Tri High
Whigro
Registered: 05/02/08
Posts: 11,769
Loc: Monaghan, Ireland
Last seen: 2 months, 16 days
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: Seuss]
#9258777 - 11/17/08 06:46 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
--------------------
you just need money to get laid - starfire_xes
|
DieCommie
El Guapo
Registered: 12/11/03
Posts: 22,787
Loc: Street of Dreams
|
Re: A MYSTERY GLOWS ON SATURN [Re: Mr. Middle]
#9259110 - 11/17/08 08:51 AM (3 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Middleman said:
Did you notice how the aurora is also breaking the known laws of physics?
Yea, Im interested in what laws you think are being broken here too. I cant think of any.
| |
|
|
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Lana, trendal, Diploid, koraks, automan, johnm214
474 topic views. 0 members, 3 guests and 0 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Toggle Favorite | Print Topic ]
| | |
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit 
Reply 
Anonymous
