2023-08-18 15:28:12
The gas giant planets of the Solar System fascinate researchers, who try to unlock the secrets of their atmospheres. A new study tells us that on Saturn, titanic cyclones forming in the upper strata of its atmosphere can last for tens or even hundreds of years.
More than a billion miles from Earth, the elements are unleashed on Saturn’s surface. The gas giant, like the more massive JupiterJupiter, is swept by major storms. A study conducted by academics from the universities of Michigan, Berkeley and California and published on August 11, details the result of observations carried out over several years concerning these “super-storms”. Scientists have notably exploited data from the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope, coupling it with observations from the Cassini space probe throughout the last decade.
Breaking Through Saturn’s Atmospheric Strata
Observing Saturn through a telescopetelescope, its surface and its atmosphere seem almost homogeneous, unlike Jupiter which wants to be streaked with bands of colors colors. If, moreover, it has been determined that the Great Red Spot of this last planet is a titanic cyclone cannibalizing other storms, the two giants have a very different functioning, according to astronomersastronomers. In 2010, one of these storms was forming in Saturn’s atmosphere. Observed by various instruments, it is ultimately the VLA which plays a major role in aiming its dish at the gas planet.
By studying the spectral band obtained thanks to the waves picked up by the radio telescope, the scientists thus succeeded in determining the frequency and functioning of atmospheric anomalies. By piercing the different cloud layers, the researchers noted the presence of a higher level of ammonia-cammonia in a region located more than 200 kilometers below the surface. These layers are broken down into three strata: the upper, made up of clouds of ammonia ice with a temperature close to -250°C. The middle layerIntermediate layer, hosting ammonium hydrosulfide, is the region in which the fewest ammonia molecules are found. The latter are largely located in the lower layer, with a temperature of around 0°C and a pressure-pressure oscillating around 300 K.
Ammonia winds, remnants of ancient storms
These traces of ammonia detected in Saturn’s deepest cloud layers appear to be the marks of older storms, the molecules descending to the depths of the planet through the cycle of precipitation-precipitation and evaporation. The process repeats itself for several decades, even hundreds of years.
The study of atmospheric anomalies and storms on Saturn is an important discipline for astrophysicists astrophysicists, trying to understand the functioning of these giants of the Solar SystemSolar System. In 2021, scientists had notably issued convincing hypotheses on the formation of the aurora borealisaurora borealis at the poles of Saturn and Jupiter. Astronomers are now patiently waiting for 2025 so they can scrutinize Saturn’s southern hemisphere in detail, hitherto shadowed by the shadow of its rings.
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