Saturn's magnetic axis inexplicably turned out to be perfectly synchronized with the axis of rotation of the giant planet, which prevented the Cassini probe from accurately measuring the length of the day on the Lord of the Rings, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“The tilt of Saturn's magnetic field turned out to be unexpectedly small, not in line with our old predictions, and this fact is extremely difficult to explain. For this reason, we have not been able to measure the length of the day on the planet, but we continue to work on this and are looking for other ways to carry out such measurements,”says Michele Dougherty from Imperial College London (UK).
According to Dowerty, scientists still do not know how long it takes for Saturn to one revolution around its axis. Since there are no large spots on the planet, like on Jupiter, or noticeable features of the relief, planetary scientists have to calculate the rotation rate using various indirect signs.
The first such estimate was obtained back in the 1980s, when Saturn visited the Voyager 2 probe. According to his measurements, the Saturnian days were equal to 10 hours 39 minutes and 22 seconds. This figure was not questioned until the arrival of the Cassini probe to the planet, which measured the fluctuations of Saturn's magnetic field and came to the conclusion that in fact Saturn spends eight minutes more on one revolution around its axis.
Since the end of April, "Cassini" periodically approaches Saturn, flying up to him at a minimum distance as part of the last phase of the mission, called the "Final of the Opera". These approaches, as scientists believed, were supposed to help them get more accurate data on fluctuations in Saturn's magnetic field and more accurately measure the length of the day.
These expectations were not met. As shown by new measurements, the magnetic axis of Saturn either completely coincides with its axis of rotation, or is deviated from it by less than 0.06 degrees - the value obtained by Cassini during the previous phases of its work in the orbit of the Lord of the Rings. Accordingly, now scientists can not only accurately measure the length of the day on Saturn, but also explain where the magnetic field came from.
The fact is that modern theories of the formation of magnetic fields in planets and some types of stars imply that the magnetic axis of Saturn, Earth, Jupiter and other celestial bodies must be slightly tilted with respect to the common axis of rotation in order for flows to appear in its core plasma, molten metal or metallic hydrogen generating these fields.
This slope, in turn, will be reflected in fluctuations of the magnetic field throughout the day, which allows you to fairly accurately calculate their duration, observing changes in the field strength for several days. Current measurements by Cassini show that there are no such fluctuations on Saturn, and this has puzzled scientists.
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Now the scientific team "Cassini" is observing the fluctuations of the gravitational field of the giant planet in the hope of finding traces that the fluctuations in the magnetic field are hiding some internal processes in the atmosphere of Saturn.
The first data, as noted by Dowerty and her colleagues, indicate the presence of not yet studied anomalies in the gravitational field, which suggests that Saturn has many secrets that will have to be studied with the help of other probes, since Cassini will die in the planet's atmosphere in just a month and a half, in mid-September.
