Posted on 06/22/2014 10:19:18 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's? To help answer this question, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft monitored Saturn's South Pole simultaneously as Cassini closed in on the gas giant in January 2004. Hubble snapped images in ultraviolet light, while Cassini recorded radio emissions and monitored the solar wind. Like on Earth, Saturn's auroras make total or partial rings around magnetic poles. Unlike on Earth, however, Saturn's auroras persist for days, as opposed to only minutes on Earth. Although surely created by charged particles entering the atmosphere, Saturn's auroras also appear to be more closely modulated by the solar wind than either Earth's or Jupiter's auroras. The above sequence shows three Hubble images of Saturn each taken two days apart.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: J. Clarke (Boston U.) & Z. Levay (STScI), ESA, NASA]
Damn, I thought both of them had joined the Edsel in that great automobile Valhalla
Great picture. I wish we had persistent auroras here as well.
Saturn is so clean and beautiful looking.
Thank you, Sir.
Someone forgot to ratchet down the Polar cap tight again.....
Great pic. Thanks!
Bush’s fault!
An over-heated bearing.
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