The Dancing Auroras of Saturn
Explanation:
What drives auroras on Saturn?
To help find out, scientists have sorted through hundreds of infrared images of
Saturn taken by the
Cassini spacecraft for other purposes, trying to find enough aurora images to
correlate changes and make
movies.
Once made, some movies clearly show that
Saturnian auroras can change not only with the angle
of the Sun, but also as the planet rotates.
Furthermore, some
auroral changes appear related to waves in Saturn's
magnetosphere likely caused
by Saturn's moons.
Pictured above, a
false-colored image taken in 2007 shows Saturn in three bands of infrared light.
The
rings reflect relatively blue sunlight, while the
planet itself glows in comparatively low energy red.
A band of
southern aurora in visible in green.
Inspection of many more Saturnian images may well lead to an even better understanding
of both Saturn's and
Earth's auroras.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
