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Solved Saturn rotation mistery?, Enceladus Geysers Mask the Length of Saturn's Day |
Mar 23 2007, 06:16 AM
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![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/...i-20070322.html
QUOTE The neutral gas particles ejected from the geysers on Enceladus form a donut-like torus around Saturn. As these particles become electrically charged, they are captured by Saturn's magnetic field, forming a disk of ionized gas, or plasma, which surrounds the planet near the equator. The particles weigh down the magnetic field so much that the rate of rotation of the plasma disk slows down slightly. This slippage causes the radio period, controlled by the plasma disk rotation, to be longer than the planet's actual rotation period.
[...] The day measured by Cassini is some six minutes longer than the day recorded by NASA's Voyager spacecraft in the early 1980s, a change of nearly 1 percent. [...] Based on the new observations, scientists now think there are two possible reasons for the change in radio period. The first theory is that the geysers on Enceladus could be more active now than in Voyagers' time. The second is that there may be seasonal variations as Saturn orbits the sun once every 29 years. -------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Mar 27 2007, 03:31 PM
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Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 14-August 06 Member No.: 1041 |
I was kinda hoping Cassini would find a couple of big composite brake shoes on either side of the ring. This sounds more like Enceladus is throwing ice cubes in the blender
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dilo Solved Saturn rotation mistery? Mar 23 2007, 06:16 AM
Patteroast Interesting! One question... why is this effec... Mar 23 2007, 08:02 AM
tasp We might have more than one mechanism at work arou... Mar 23 2007, 12:57 PM
Rob Pinnegar I think the problem at Neptune is that any gas esc... Mar 23 2007, 03:10 PM
ngunn Free neutral sodium atoms don't sound very lik... Mar 23 2007, 03:30 PM
martin peters QUOTE (ngunn @ Mar 23 2007, 03:30 PM) Fre... Mar 27 2007, 10:45 AM
edstrick "...... why is this effect only seen on Satur... Mar 25 2007, 09:03 AM![]() ![]() |
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