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New theory addresses frozen Earth paradox
PASADENA, Calif., Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency's Cassini spacecraft has detected an aurora that lights Saturn's polar cap unlike any other planetary aurora known in our solar system.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists said the aurora was detected by one of the infrared instruments aboard Cassini.
"We've never seen an aurora like this elsewhere," said Tom Stallard, a scientist working with Cassini data at Britain's University of Leicester. "It's not just a ring of auroras like those we've seen at Jupiter or Earth. This aurora covers an enormous area across the pole. Our current ideas on what forms Saturn's aurora predict that this region should be empty, so finding such a bright aurora here is a fantastic surprise."
NASA said the new infrared aurora appears in a region hidden from the Hubble Space Telescope, which has provided views of Saturn's ultraviolet aurora. Scientists said the new aurora is constantly changing, even disappearing within a 45 minute-period.
Stallard is lead author of a paper reporting the aurora that appears in the journal Nature.
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