Rotation Period Of Saturn, Cassini findings |
Rotation Period Of Saturn, Cassini findings |
Mar 26 2015, 08:46 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 241 Joined: 16-May 06 From: Geneva, Switzerland Member No.: 773 |
A new result about Saturn's spin rate was published today:
http://news.sciencemag.org/space/2015/03/s...got-bit-shorter "Helled's team deduced the spin from the planet's gravity field. Saturn spins fast, making its equator bulge outward, which distorts the gravity field in ways Cassini has measured. By modeling this effect, Helled's team reports online today in Nature that Saturn spins every 10 hours and 32 minutes and 45 seconds with an uncertainty of 46 seconds. That's more than 6 minutes faster than Voyager found." "Because Saturn is so big, the equator at the level of the atmosphere must spin nearly 400 kilometers per hour faster than the Voyager value implied. Scientists measure wind speeds relative to the spinning planet, so the new rotation rate alters the estimated wind speeds by that same amount." I would be curious to see the corrected wind profiles. Regards, Marc. |
|
|
Jan 21 2019, 04:49 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2106 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
A little less than four years later, looks like a new (and hopefully final!) result: 10 hours, 33 minutes, 38 seconds
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/...357/aaf798/meta 'Ring seismology' is not a term one hears every day! One mystery down, many more to go. Press release: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7316 |
|
|
Jan 21 2019, 05:46 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 544 Joined: 17-November 05 From: Oklahoma Member No.: 557 |
Well, down in the details in the abstract, they list their error bars as + 1 min 52 sec and - 1 min 19 sec.
This overlaps with the earlier result from 2015, which actually claims to be more precise. These two results both agree that Saturn is spinning faster than the estimates from Voyager. Also other estimates from Cassini. |
|
|
Jan 21 2019, 07:45 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Topic title edited for clarity and scope.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 23rd September 2024 - 10:38 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |