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New Cassini images show Northern Lights of Saturn
August 08, 2005New images of Saturn obtained by a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team on June 21 using an instrument on the Cassini spacecraft show auroral emissions at its poles similar to Earth's Northern Lights.
Taken with the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Cassini orbiter, the two UV images, invisible to the human eye, are the first from the Cassini-Huygens mission to capture the entire "oval" of the auroral emissions at Saturn's south pole. They also show similar emissions at Saturn's north pole, according to CU-Boulder Professor Larry Esposito, principal investigator of the UVIS instrument built at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, and Professor Wayne Pryor of Central Arizona College, a UVIS team member and former CU graduate student.
In the false-color images, blue represents aurora emissions from hydrogen gas excited by electron bombardment, while red-orange represents reflected sunlight. The images show that the aurora lights at the polar regions respond rapidly to changes in the solar wind, said the researchers. Previous images have been taken closer to the equator, making it difficult to see the polar regions.
Major changes in the emissions inside the Saturn south-pole aurora are evident by comparing the two images, which were taken about one hour apart, they said. The brightest spot in the left aurora fades, and a bright spot appears in the middle of the aurora in the second image.
Made by slowly scanning the UVIS instrument across the planet, the images also contain more than 2,000 wavelengths of spectral information within each picture element. Researchers will use the wavelength information to study Saturn's auroras, gases, and hazes and their changing distributions.
The UVIS observation team includes researchers from CU-Boulder, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Central Arizona College and the University of Southern California.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini- Huygens mission for NASA's Space Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
More information on the Cassini-Huygens mission is available at the following Web sites: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
The new Saturn aurora image is available at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/290.html.
University of Colorado at Boulder
Major changes in the emissions inside the Saturn south-pole aurora are evident by comparing the two images, which were taken about one hour apart, they said. The brightest spot in the left aurora fades, and a bright spot appears in the middle of the aurora in the second image.
Made by slowly scanning the UVIS instrument across the planet, the images also contain more than 2,000 wavelengths of spectral information within each picture element. Researchers will use the wavelength information to study Saturn's auroras, gases, and hazes and their changing distributions.
The UVIS observation team includes researchers from CU-Boulder, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Central Arizona College and the University of Southern California.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini- Huygens mission for NASA's Space Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
More information on the Cassini-Huygens mission is available at the following Web sites: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
The new Saturn aurora image is available at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2005/290.html.
University of Colorado at Boulder
Northern Lights Current Events and Northern Lights News RSSMagnetic Tremors Pinpoint the Impact Epicenter of Earthbound Space Storms
Using data from NASA's THEMIS mission, a team of University of Alberta researchers has pinpointed the impact epicenter of an earthbound space storm as it crashes into the atmosphere, and given an advance warning of its arrival.
Clemson scientists launch rockets to test atmospheric conditions
Clemson University space physicists have traveled around the world to launch rockets to test atmospheric conditions.
Scientists solve 30-year-old aurora borealis mystery
UCLA space scientists and colleagues have identified the mechanism that triggers substorms in space; wreaks havoc on satellites, power grids and communications systems; and leads to the explosive release of energy that causes the spectacular brightening of the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights.
Northern lights glimmer with unexpected trait
An international team of scientists has detected that some of the glow of Earth's aurora is polarized, an unexpected state for such emissions.
NASA spacecraft make new discoveries about Northern Lights
A fleet of NASA spacecraft, launched less than eight months ago, has made three important discoveries about spectacular eruptions of Northern Lights called "substorms" and the source of their power.
Unexpected cooling effect in Saturn's upper atmosphere
UK researchers from University College London (UCL), along with colleagues from Boston University, have found that the hotter than expected temperature of Saturn's upper atmosphere - and that of the other giant planets - is not due to the same mechanism that heats the atmosphere around the Earth's Northern Lights.
Northern lights research enters final frontier
An international team of scientists — including physicists from the University of Calgary — will begin gathering the most detailed information yet about the ever-changing northern lights, as a multi-year research project enters its ultimate phase with the launch of five NASA satellites from Cape Canaveral next month.
Chandra looks back at the Earth
In an unusual observation, a team of scientists has scanned the northern polar region of Earth with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Hundreds of auroras detected on Mars
Auroras similar to Earth's Northern Lights appear to be common on Mars, according to physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, who have analyzed six years' worth of data from the Mars Global Surveyor.
Movement of Earth's North Magnetic Pole Accelerating Rapidly
After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from northern Canada to Siberia within the next half-century.
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