NASA/ESA/STScI/Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)
A photo of Saturn taken by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023. At the time, the ringed planet was about 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble’s razor-sharp vision revealed a phenomenon called ring spokes.
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of hubble space telescope has captured a newly revealed image of a mysterious ghostly shadow in Saturn’s rings. This is the latest sighting of a so-called “spoke” that continues to baffle scientists.
The composite image released by NASA on Thursday was taken by Hubble on October 22, when Saturn was about 850 million miles (1.37 billion kilometers) away. space agency. This space observatory has been in orbit around the Earth, just a few hundred miles above the surface, for more than 30 years.
Astronomers have long known about the intricate spokes in Saturn’s rings. These spokes look like ghosts sliding along a ring and can be found in different locations depending on where they are in Saturn’s orbital period.
Over time, observations have revealed that the number and appearance of the spokes can change depending on Saturn’s seasonal cycle. Like Earth, each season on Saturn lasts about seven years, but Saturn’s axis has a tilt that causes seasonal changes, according to NASA.
Hubble will observe this unexplained phenomenon during its peak activity as researchers aim to uncover its secrets.
Amy Simon, lead scientist at the Hubble Outer Planet Atmospheric Heritage (OPAL) There will be spokes.” program, in a statement. Simon is based at his NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Saturn’s autumnal equinox is expected to occur on May 6, 2025.
of NASA Voyager 2 spacecraft The first evidence of spokes was captured in the 1980s. And the Cassini mission, a dedicated Saturn probe, Spoke phenomenon during the season It peaked in the late 2000s.
Recent observations by Hubble The issue arose earlier this year as part of a new effort to determine the cause of spoke appearance.
Although the spokes may look small in images, they may actually be larger in width and diameter than Earth, according to NASA.
Scientists plan to continue studying Saturn’s mysterious spokes until the spring equinox in 2025 in order to finally uncover an explanation for the apparition.
“The spokes are believed to be caused by Earth’s changing magnetic field,” NASA said in a statement. February news release. “The planet’s magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, creating an electrically charged environment.
“On Earth, when these charged particles hit the atmosphere, they are visible in the northern hemisphere as auroras, or aurora borealis.”
Essentially, astronomers think that this activity causes the small particles to become electrically charged and temporarily rise higher than the surrounding material, creating the apparent bulge.
Researchers hope that Hubble’s data will completely prove or disprove the theory, based on observations collected by Voyager 2 and the Cassini mission.
Video caption: Seven Hubble Space Telescope images, each taken about four minutes apart, were stitched together to show the features of the “spokes” rotating around Saturn.