The Hubble Telescope has captured a significant change in the region of Saturn’s northern hemisphere ring belt. From left to right, the photos are from 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively.
Hubble Telescope observations reveal significant changes in the region and color of Saturn’s northern hemisphere ring belt in just three years, from 2018 to 2020. NASA has made an animation of the data that clearly shows how Saturn’s northern hemisphere has changed in recent years.
A beautiful ring of bands around Saturn is the effect of the storms raging above and the ever-changing cloud cover. The data show that between 2018 and 2020, new bands of rings were created in some areas, and some lighter colored bands deepened in color, while some darker colored areas lightened. The researchers estimate that this is a reflection of some changes in Saturn’s atmosphere or at a deeper level.
Among them, Saturn’s equator has become 5% to 10% lighter in color, and the wind speed has also changed somewhat. The Cassini probe measured equatorial wind speeds of about 1,300 kilometers per hour from 2004 to 2009; in 2018, the wind speed increased to 1,600 kilometers per hour; but in 2019 and 2020, the measured wind speed dropped back to the level measured by Cassini.
NASA believes that continued observations may be needed over Time to understand what is causing the changes.
Saturn is the planet in the solar system that orbits the Sun from the inside out, at a distance of 1.4 billion kilometers in its sixth orbit. One revolution of Saturn around the Sun, or one year on Saturn, is equivalent to 29 years on Earth. A season on Saturn is about seven more years than on Earth. The Earth has an inclination with respect to the Sun, resulting in four seasons on Earth, and Saturn also has an inclination, so there are seasons on Saturn in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Hubble’s observations from 2018 to 2020 should be the period when Saturn’s northern hemisphere transitions from summer to fall. nasa estimates that seasonal changes caused by changes in harvesting solar energy may be responsible for allowing changes in Saturn’s cloud cover.
Like Jupiter, Saturn is a giant gaseous planet, rich in hydrogen and helium. But scientists do not rule out a hard, rocky core underneath Saturn’s thick atmospheric shell.
Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system, nine times larger than Earth, with more than 50 moons and a beautiful and unique ring of water vapor and ice slag.
Two of the moons, Titan (Titan) and Enceladus (Titan), appear to have flowing oceans beneath their glacial crusts, which are likely to be habitable environments.
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is also the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere. The “rain” up there is likely to be liquid methane or other hydrocarbons that fall to the surface to form rivers, lakes and oceans. Scientists believe that this situation and the Earth billions of years ago when the environment is similar to the beginning of Life. Therefore, NASA is about to send a dragonfly probe (Dragonfly) to land on Titan to investigate the situation, looking for the possible existence of life there.
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