![]() ![]() Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild. NASA’s real-time science encyclopedia of deep space exploration. And the Emmy goes to: Cassini's Grand Finale. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the. Cassini's Final View of Titan's Northern Lakes and Seas. Dust Storms on Titan Spotted for the First Time. The observations were taken in ultraviolet light and the resulting images provide astronomers with the most comprehensive picture so far of Saturn’s northern aurora. Groundbreaking Science Emerges from Ultra-Close Orbits of Saturn. The northern auroral oval is slightly smaller and more intense than the southern one, implying that Saturn’s magnetic field is not equally distributed across the planet it is slightly uneven and stronger in the north than the south. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope have taken a series of spectacular images featuring the fluttering auroras at the north pole of Saturn. Image scale is 63 miles (102 kilometers) per pixel. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.1 million miles (1.7 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 23 degrees. However, astronomers discovered some subtle differences between the northern and southern auroras, which reveal important information about Saturn’s magnetic field. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. At the time when Hubble snapped this picture, Saturn was approaching its equinox so both poles were equally illuminated by the sun’s rays.Īt first glance the light show of Saturn’s auroras appears symmetric at the two poles. This image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 features Saturn with the rings edge-on and both poles in view, offering a stunning double view of its fluttering auroras.Ĭreated by the interaction of the solar wind with the planet’s magnetic field, Saturn’s aurorae are analogous to the more familiar northern and southern lights on Earth. A grand ringed planet, Saturn is one of the most intriguing bodies orbiting our sun. NASA’s Voyager 1 flew past Saturn in 1980 and, along with Voyager 2, which reached the planet in 1981, snapped nearly 16,000 images of Saturn, its rings and moons.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |