X Ray Saturn
Explanation:
Above, the ringed planet
Saturn
shines in x-rays.
Otherwise
beyond the range of human vision, the eerie
x-ray view was created by overlaying a computer
generated
outline of the gas giant's disk and ring system on a false-color
picture of smoothed,
reconstructed
x-ray data
from the orbiting Chandra Observatory.
The data represents the first detection
of Saturn
at x-ray energies and held some surprises for
researchers.
For starters, the x-rays seem concentrated near the planet's
equator rather than the poles, in marked contrast to
observations
of Jupiter, the only
other gas giant seen at such high energies.
And while Saturn's high energy emission is found to be consistent
with the reflection of x-rays
from the Sun, the intensity of the
reflected x-rays was also found to be unusually strong.
Outside the planet's disk, only a faint suggestion of x-rays from
Saturn's
magnificent
ring system
is visible at the left.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
