What do we know about the planet Saturn?
NASA’s Cassini mission has been a big player in the collection of data about this planet, an extension of which – the solstice extension – intends to finish in september 2017. There’s so much left to discover about this planet, about its internal processes and what exactly made it become the way it is.
Why are there strange marks on the surface of Saturn?
Some scientists think they may be a result of Saturn’s magnetic field, while others believe it could be the result of lightning storms in the planet’s atmosphere. One of the goals of the “solstice extension” of the Cassini mission is to help scientists determine what the most likely cause of these unusual marks is.
What was the B ring on Saturn like?
Voyager also noticed something strange about Saturn’s rings as it flew past. One of its darker bands, the B ring, showed radial lines going through it like spokes on a bicycle wheel. These lines troubled astronomers as they could not be explained by any gravitational interaction.
What was the hexagonal cloud formation on Saturn?
In the 1980’s Voyager sent images of a strange hexagonal cloud formation around the northern pole of Saturn. Firstly it was assumed this was a one-time thing, a coincidental short-lived accident, but these thoughts were quickly disregarded when additional pictures of the geometric fog were taken by NASA’s Cassini mission more recently.
NASA’s Cassini mission has been a big player in the collection of data about this planet, an extension of which – the solstice extension – intends to finish in september 2017. There’s so much left to discover about this planet, about its internal processes and what exactly made it become the way it is.
Some scientists think they may be a result of Saturn’s magnetic field, while others believe it could be the result of lightning storms in the planet’s atmosphere. One of the goals of the “solstice extension” of the Cassini mission is to help scientists determine what the most likely cause of these unusual marks is.
Voyager also noticed something strange about Saturn’s rings as it flew past. One of its darker bands, the B ring, showed radial lines going through it like spokes on a bicycle wheel. These lines troubled astronomers as they could not be explained by any gravitational interaction.
Where can you see the Rings of Saturn?
Perplexing Rings of Saturn The elegant rings which surround the gas giant can be seen from our own back gardens on a clear night with little more than an amateur telescope, and while they are Saturn’s defining feature it doesn’t necessarily mean we understand them.