Hot spot seen on Saturn
Posted: Sat, Feb 5, 2005, 9:57 AM ET (1457 GMT)
Infrared images of Saturn taken by a terrestrial telescope have turned up an unexpected, mysterious hot spot at the planet's south pole. The images, taken by the Keck 1 telescope in Hawaii, show what appears to be a warm polar vortex in the atmosphere at the south pole — the first such feature seen in any atmosphere the solar system. While sudden warming of the atmosphere at the Earth's poles has been seen, such effects are short-lived, while astronomers said they have seen evidence for this hot spot for at least two years. The abrupt nature of the hot spot — temperature increases of several degrees are seen over very short ranges of latitude — also makes this feature puzzling. Scientists said that particulates in the atmosphere near the pole, trapped there by the downwelling of dry air, could explain the warming, but they don't have enough data yet to confirm that explanation.
Infrared images of Saturn taken by a terrestrial telescope have turned up an unexpected, mysterious hot spot at the planet's south pole. The images, taken by the Keck 1 telescope in Hawaii, show what appears to be a warm polar vortex in the atmosphere at the south pole — the first such feature seen in any atmosphere the solar system. While sudden warming of the atmosphere at the Earth's poles has been seen, such effects are short-lived, while astronomers said they have seen evidence for this hot spot for at least two years. The abrupt nature of the hot spot — temperature increases of several degrees are seen over very short ranges of latitude — also makes this feature puzzling. Scientists said that particulates in the atmosphere near the pole, trapped there by the downwelling of dry air, could explain the warming, but they don't have enough data yet to confirm that explanation.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Thales and Airbus to build next-generation radar imaging satellites
Posted: Sat, Jun 13 10:02 AM ET (1402 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Thursday, June 18
ESA Studies Doubling Ariane 6 Flight Cadence
Aviation Week — 5:21 am ET (0921 GMT) Northrop Grumman to Advance Military’s Protected Satellite Communications
Northrop Grumman — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Two Offices Face a Shaky Future in U.S. Space Force Acquisition Overhaul
Aviation Week — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Eutelsat Secures First Order Under French Defense Agreement
ViaSatellite — 5:20 am ET (0920 GMT) Blue Origin Says It Will Launch a New Glenn Rocket This Year
Bloomberg News — 5:16 am ET (0916 GMT) |
