Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:
Profile image
Story Views

Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Cassini Sees Seasonal Plasma Changes On Saturn

Friday, May 3, 2013 19:48
% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has helped shed light on one way the bubble of charged particles around Saturn changes with the planet’s seasons.

Earth has a magnetosphere like Saturn, and the latest results may help scientists better understand variations in it and the Van Allen radiation belts, which both affect things from space flight safety to satellite and cell phone communications. Researchers wrote in the Journal of Geophysical Research their findings help provide an important clue in solving a riddle about the planet’s naturally occurring radio signal.

The team looked at Cassini data collected around Saturn from July 2004 to December 2011, examining “flux tubes.” These tubes funnel charged particles in towards Saturn. The scientists found the occurrence of the tubes correlates with radio wave patterns in the northern and southern hemisphere, depending on the season. This effect is roughly similar to how Earth’s northern lights appear more frequently in the spring and fall.

The scientists used radio emissions to help determine Saturn’s rotation period, which is a technique used in the past to measure Jupiter’s rotation period. The new results could help scientists understand why these signals vary.

Scientists have known for some time Saturn’s magnetospheric processes are linked together, but they did not understand how they were linked. The researchers found during winter and in the northern hemisphere, the occurrence of flux tubes correlates with the Saturn kilometric radiation (SKR) period originating in the northern hemisphere. A similar flux tube and SKR correlation was made in the southern hemisphere during southern winter.

Saturn’s magnetosphere has also helped make another great observation recently. Researchers reported back in February Cassini detected subatomic particles in Saturn’s magnetosphere that could have come from a supernova. They wrote in the journal Nature Physics Cassini picked up particles that had been accelerated to ultra-high energies in a blast of solar wind around Saturn. This discovery could help scientists hone in on how the acceleration of electrons in very strong shocks with “Mach numbers” depend on the angle between the magnetic field and a vector at right angles to the shock front.

“The Cassini observations have given us a glimpse of a process never before seen directly, providing new information on how high-energy particles, like cosmic rays, are accelerated to such high velocities by magnetic fields throughout the Universe,” says Nicolas Altobelli, one of ESA’s Cassini project scientists.

redOrbit.com
offers Science, Space, Technology, Health news, videos, images and
reference information. For the latest science news, space news,
technology news, health news visit redOrbit.com frequently. Learn
something new every day.\”



Source:

Report abuse

Comments

Your Comments
Question   Razz  Sad   Evil  Exclaim  Smile  Redface  Biggrin  Surprised  Eek   Confused   Cool  LOL   Mad   Twisted  Rolleyes   Wink  Idea  Arrow  Neutral  Cry   Mr. Green

Top Stories
Recent Stories

Register

Newsletter

Email this story
Email this story

If you really want to ban this commenter, please write down the reason:

If you really want to disable all recommended stories, click on OK button. After that, you will be redirect to your options page.