Explanation: DonБt get spooked by SaturnБs ghostly spokes! Today we feature a nearly two-hour timelapse of Saturn and its rings looping forwards and backwards. A day on Saturn is only 10 hours long, so two hours of observation covers quite a bit of its rotation. If you look closely, a ghoulish shadow appears and disappears as SaturnБs B ring rotates. Decades of observation with Voyager 2, Cassini, and Hubble show the appearance of SaturnБs spokes varies with the planetБs seasons. Like Earth, SaturnБs spin axis is tilted compared to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. During SaturnБs equinox, the rings are less tilted away from the Sun and the planet receives more evenly distributed sunlight and solar wind. Although their origin is still uncertain, SaturnБs spokes may be shadows of and reflections off of dust and ice levitating above the rings caused by electromagnetic interactions between the solar wind and the planetБs magnetic field.
Find dark skies and look up this August to witness
the Perseid meteor shower
uninhibited by the Moon!
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
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