Science and Space

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Hot spot on a cold planet

 Astronomers using a giant telescope atop Mauna Kea have discovered a hot spot at the tip of Saturn’s south pole. The infrared images suggest a warm polar vortex — a large-scale weather pattern likened to a jet stream on Earth that occurs in the upper atmosphere. It’s the first such hot vortex ever discovered in the solar system. Sunlight has bathed Saturn’s southern hemisphere for the past 15 years without a break, so it’s no surprise that the environs are slightly warm. But researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory were startled to see just how hot the south pole is, with a stratospheric temperature of 151 kelvins.

Polar vortices are found on Earth, Jupiter, Mars and Venus, and are colder than their surroundings. The new images from the Keck Observatory show the first evidence of a polar vortex at much warmer temperatures. On Earth, the Arctic Polar Vortex is typically located over eastern North America in Canada and plunges cold arctic air to the northern Plains in the United States.

What is causing Saturn’s hot spot remains unclear, though particulates that absorb sunlight and are trapped in the planet’s upper atmosphere could be to blame. Scientists may learn more from the data coming from the infrared spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn.

posted by: kyawoo at 10:29 | link | comments |
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