Jupiter and Saturn receive less than 4% of the sunlight the Earth receives, but have consistent atmospheric temperatures of around 200☌. The fellowships are awarded to ten promising early-career academics to establish new research projects and conduct cutting-edge science.ĭr O’Donoghue, who has previously worked for NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, also plans to solve a decades-old mystery of our solar system: why are the upper atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn so hot, when they are so distant from the Sun? Working at the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology from December 2023, Dr O’Donoghue’s research will be funded by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Ernest Rutherford Fellowship. Working with the meteorology experts at Reading will give me the opportunity to finally find out what is going on with our giant planetary neighbour.” “Saturn may be many millions of miles away, but I believe the key to understanding how fast its rings are disappearing may lie with some of the world’s leading atmospheric scientists in Berkshire. We could be very lucky to be around at a time when the rings exist. This may sound like a long time, but in the history of the universe this is a relatively quick death. “Currently, research suggests the rings will only be part of Saturn for another few hundred million years. “We’re still trying to figure out exactly how fast they are eroding," Dr O’Donoghue said. It is not clear how much longer they will remain, however, so scientists are eager to understand what is in store for the future of Saturn’s rings.ĭr James O’Donoghue, who is leading the research, will track the destruction rate of Saturn’s rings using some of the world’s most powerful telescopes, including the Keck telescope in Hawai’i and the space-based James Webb Space Telescope. Saturn’s rings, which are made up of large chunks of ice, are falling in on the planet as icy rain due to the planet’s intense gravity.Ĭontrary to popular belief, the rings are not a permanent feature of Saturn and some experts have suggested they could be only 100 million years old – meaning they might not have been a part of our solar system for much of the dinosaurs’ reign on Earth. Iconic pieces of our solar system are eroding away and space scientists are in a rush to understand how long they will remain. Scientists have called this the "first finding of phosphorus on an extraterrestrial ocean world", a Press Trust of India report said. In a study published in the journal Nature, scientists revealed that phosphate, an essential to life, had been discovered in Enceladus' ocean. Further deeper exposures will enable the team to explore more of Saturn's fainter rings.Įarlier this month, one of Saturn's moons grabbed the world's attention. The latest photo of Saturn's rings has excited astronomers as it showed off the remarkable capabilities of the Webb telescope. The latest photo by Webb also showed Neptune's fainter dust bands, according to Nasa's press statement. Neptune's rings were last detected by Nasa's Voyager 2, which was the first spacecraft to observe the planet in 1989. The clarity of the image made it possible for astronomers to see its rings after more than three decades. In September 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope took the first image of Neptune. Methane gas in Saturn’s atmosphere absorbs light, so it appears darker here. On June 25, the space telescope detected the planet’s faint moons and looked at its icy rings. Webb's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) captures objects in the near-infrared range from 0.6 to 5 microns. Notably, this is the first time that Saturn's atmosphere has been captured with this clarity at this specific wavelength (3.23 microns), Nasa said in its statement. "We look forward to digging into the deep exposures to see what discoveries may await," Matthew Tiscareno, a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute, said in a statement, according to a report by the Associated Press. Saturn's rings contain various rocky and icy fragments, and the size ranges from particles smaller than a grain of salt to objects as large as the mountains on Earth, the Nasa statement explains. Also read: Astronomers ‘hear’ humming of the universe The Webb image presents Saturn's ring system in detail and its three moons-Dione, Enceladus, and Tethys, according to Nasa's press statement. The methane gas absorbs most of the sunlight in the atmosphere. In the image captured as part of the Webb Guaranteed Time Observation program, Saturn appears extremely dark, but the icy rings are bright. Along with the rings, the telescope also captured three of Saturn's moons. The new image is the first near-infrared observation of the planet, according to the US space agency Nasa. In the latest photo captured by Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope, Saturn's icy rings are glowing.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |