Apart from Earth, Saturn is probably the most instantly recognized of the planets in our solar system. It is the only planet with bold, easily visible rings – and other planets, such as Uranus, have rings, but they are not as opaque – and you would never confuse it with another world in our small stellar neighborhood. However, that doesn’t mean it never changes, and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has recently noticed some very interesting color changes happening on the planet.
In a new post on NASA’s website, the space agency highlights a paper published in Journal of Planetary Sciences where scientists reveal the subtle color changes that take place on Saturn. The rings of the planet do not change much from season to season, but the colors of the planet itself certainly change. One year on Saturn is equivalent to 29 years on Earth, so we see that seasonal changes are happening very slowly, but it is clear that something is happening under the clouds.
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In fact, in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the planet’s troops have changed in remarkable ways. The scientists provided a cute animated image to make the color changes more obvious. Check it out for yourself:
It may not be immediately visible, but focus on the middle to the top of the planet and examine how the rings change. New rings are formed, some areas that were brighter become darker, and the darker region at the north pole of the planet expands significantly. These are quite big changes, especially over just three years, and indicate some very interesting things happening in the planet’s atmosphere and possibly below it.
“These small changes from year to year in Saturn’s color bands are fascinating. As Saturn moves into its northern hemisphere, we see changes in the polar and equatorial regions, but we also see that the atmosphere varies over much shorter periods of time, “said Amy Simon, lead author of the study. a statement. “What we found was a slight change from year to year in color, possibly the height of the clouds and the winds – it’s not surprising that the changes are not huge, because we only look at a small part of a Saturn year. We expect big changes on a seasonal time scale, so this shows progress towards next season. ”
What may be most interesting about seeing changes like these in the visible upper layer of Saturn is what they could mean for changes taking place deeper on the planet. No one really knows what is in the gas giant planets, such as Saturn and Jupiter, and it is possible that some or all of these planets have solid inner cores surrounded by liquids and gases. We do not yet have the technology to look deeply through the thick layers of clouds, but one day we could also these observations could give us clues that reveal where the colors come from and what causes the changes.
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Mike Wehner has reported on technology and video games over the past decade, covering breaking news and trends in VR, portable devices, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike served as technical editor at The Daily Dot and was featured in USA Today, Time.com and countless other internet outlets and printmakers. His love of reporting is second only to gambling addiction.