{"id":8380,"date":"2013-04-10T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T22:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=8380"},"modified":"2013-04-10T11:36:48","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T21:36:48","slug":"figures-credit-nasajpl-caltechspace-science-instituteuniversity-of-leicester-this-artists-concept-illustrates-how-charged-water-particles-flow-into-the-saturnian-atmosphere-from-the-planets-r","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/?p=8380","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers Using Keck Observatory Discover Rain Falling from Saturn\u2019s rings"},"content":{"rendered":"

W. M. Keck Observatory press release<\/a>…<\/p>\n

NASA funded observations on the W. M. Keck Observatory with analysis led by the University of Leicester, England tracked the \u201crain\u201d of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and found the extent of the ring-rain is far greater, and falls across larger areas of the planet, than previously thought. The work reveals the rain influences the composition and temperature structure of parts of Saturn\u2019s upper atmosphere. The paper appears in this week\u2019s issue of the journal Nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaturn is the first planet to show significant interaction between its atmosphere and ring system,\u201d said James O\u2019Donoghue, the paper\u2019s lead author and a postgraduate researcher at Leicester. \u201cThe main effect of ring rain is that it acts to \u2018quench\u2019 the ionosphere of Saturn, severely reducing the electron densities in regions in which it falls.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue said the ring\u2019s effect on electron densities is important because it explains why, for many decades, observations have shown electron densities to be unusually low at some latitudes at Saturn.<\/p>\n

\"Charge<\/a>
This artist’s concept illustrates how charged water particles flow into the Saturnian atmosphere from the planet’s rings. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute\/University of Leicester<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/h6>\n

\u201cIt turns out a major driver of Saturn\u2019s ionospheric environment and climate across vast reaches of the planet are ring particles located 120,000 miles [200,000 kilometers] overhead,\u201d said Kevin Baines, a co-author on the paper, based at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. \u201cThe ring particles affect which species of particles are in this part of the atmospheric temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the early 1980s, images from NASA\u2019s Voyager spacecraft showed two to three dark bands on Saturn and scientists theorized that water could have been showering down into those bands from the rings. Those bands were not seen again until 2011 when the the team observed the planet with Keck Observatory\u2019s NIRSPEC, a unique, near-infrared spectrograph that combines broad wavelength coverage with high spectral resolution, allowing the observers to clearly see subtle emissions from the bright parts of Saturn.<\/p>\n

The ring rain\u2019s effect occurs in Saturn\u2019s ionosphere (Earth has a similar ionosphere), where charged particles are produced when the otherwise neutral atmosphere is exposed to a flow of energetic particles or solar radiation. When the scientists tracked the pattern of emissions of a particular hydrogen molecule consisting of three hydrogen atoms (rather than the usual two), they expected to see a uniform planet-wide infrared glow. What they observed instead was a series of light and dark bands with a pattern mimicking the planet\u2019s rings. Saturn\u2019s magnetic field \u201cmaps\u201d the water-rich rings and the water-free gaps between rings onto the planet\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

They surmised that charged water particles from the planet\u2019s rings were being drawn towards the planet by Saturn\u2019s magnetic field and neutralizing the glowing triatomic hydrogen ions. This leaves large \u201cshadows\u201d in what would otherwise be a planet-wide infrared glow. These shadows cover 30 to 43 percent of the planet\u2019s upper atmosphere surface from around 25 to 55 degrees latitude. This is a significantly larger area than suggested by the Voyager images.<\/p>\n

Both Earth and Jupiter have a very uniformly glowing equatorial region. Scientists expected this pattern at Saturn, too, but they instead saw dramatic differences at different latitudes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Jupiter is glowing evenly across its equatorial regions, Saturn has dark bands where the water is falling in, darkening the ionosphere,\u201d said Tom Stallard, one of the paper\u2019s co-authors at Leicester. \u201cWe\u2019re now also trying to investigate these features with an instrument on NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft. If we\u2019re successful, Cassini may allow us to view in more detail the way that water is removing ionized particles, such as any changes in the altitude or effects that come with the time of day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keck Observatory observing time for this investigation was supported by NASA. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is managed by JPL for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate, Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

W. M. Keck Observatory press release… NASA funded observations on the W. M. Keck Observatory with analysis led by the University of Leicester, England tracked the \u201crain\u201d of charged water particles into the atmosphere of Saturn and found the extent of the ring-rain is far greater, and falls across larger areas of the planet, than … Continue reading “Astronomers Using Keck Observatory Discover Rain Falling from Saturn\u2019s rings”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[50,919,920,93,885],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/darkerview.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}