ing of Saturn’s interior, and by extension the interiors of giant planets as a class of astrophysical objects. Electrical currents in liquid metallic NASA’s Cassini spacecraft obtained this image of a feature shaped like a hot cross bun in the northern region of Titan (left) that bears a striking resemblance to a similar... Cassini mission planners created this animation to showcase Cassini's final 22 orbits - the mission's Grand Finale. On top of this, a large amount of gaseous hydrogen and helium from the original solar nebula would have accumulated by gravitational collapse. The most likely explanation for the required additional energy source is that in Saturn’s interior helium has been precipitating from solution in hydrogen and forming dense “raindrops” that fall. Science Writer: Although this temperature gradient is less than for Jupiter (which has a five degree per mile gradient), it is adequate, given Saturn's lower gravity, to make the lower atmosphere "neutrally stratified". Mark your calendars: NASA's latest rover has only about 100 days to go before it touches down on the Red Planet, becoming history's next Mars car. Ride the Tides Through the Throat of Kraken. This is an artist concept of a close-up view of Saturn's ring particles. The gravity measurements suggest an ice outer shell and a low density, rocky core with a regional water ocean sandwiched in between at high southern latitud When the hydrogen reaches a pressure As we go deeper where the presure reaches 100,000 bars, the gas starts to resemble a hot liquid. Original upload log []. Energy balance Like Jupiter, the power incident upon Saturn due to solar radiation is on the same order as the intrin-sic power from the planet. Phillips Davis outer layer is primarily composed of molecular hydrogen. The degree of distortion is directly related to the relative amounts of mass concentrated in Saturn’s central regions as opposed to its envelope.
The same storm is illustrated with greater smoothness in this This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows an ancient southern sea that used to sprawl out near the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. Site Manager: Dr. Lori Glaze This transition occurs at a distance about halfway between Saturn’s cloud tops and its centre. The magnetic field traps charged particles These superfast winds, combined with heat rising from within the planet's interior, cause the yellow and gold bands visible in the atmosphere. to that of Jupiter, but weaker. The image adjacent left this is a layer dominated by ice where "ice" denotes a soupy begun firing. Analysis of the distortion shows that Saturn is substantially more centrally condensed than Jupiter and therefore contains a significantly larger amount of material denser than hydrogen near its centre. On both planets the gas was heated to high temperatures—several tens of thousands of kelvins—in the course of the capture. (It is thought that this process also has occurred—although to a much more limited extent—in Jupiter, which has a warmer interior and thus allows more helium to stay in solution.) NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has a new selfie. The ring is the bluest in the center, where the gravitat... Full-Res Image The plot shows the type of data the magnetometer measures. The interior structure of giant planets is not particularly well-constrained. Kristen Erickson Friction then damps this motion and converts it into heat, which is carried up to the atmosphere by convection and radiated into space, thus prolonging Saturn’s internal heat source. This image is a derivative work of the following images: Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Under the conditions found within the planet, hydrogen behaves as a liquid rather than a gas at pressures above about one kilobar, corresponding to a depth of 1,000 km (600 miles) below the clouds; there the temperature is roughly 1,000 K (1,340 °F, 730 °C). This illustration shows the interior of Saturn, including its core of heavy elements (orange), liquid metallic hydrogen layer (grey), and gaseous molecular hydrogen envelope (brown). The surface of Saturn bears many similarities with the surface of Jupiter, but Whether you roll original or custom we have the replacement and upgraded parts to transform your interior. The planet Saturn is seen in the background (yellow and brown). Director, NASA Planetary Science Division: The drawing to the left illustrates a kind of global motion that is typical of motions in the atmosphere as well as interior of a planet. hydrogen deep in the interior are assumed to be the cause of the magnetic A brief explainer about the 2018 global dust storm on Mars. Jupiter, and they are not as abundant as on Jupiter. Saturn’s low mean density is direct evidence that its bulk composition is mostly hydrogen. go deeper where the presure reaches 100,000 bars, the gas starts Added translation for fr. The planet's magnetic field is thought to originate from the top of the metallic hydrogen layer. This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at, Electrical Circuit Between Saturn and Enceladus, Outline of an Ancient Sea on Titan -- Annotated, Deep Dive: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept), Changing Temperatures in Saturn's stratosphere, Titan Volcano in Several Infrared Wavelengths, Two Looks at the Turbulent Saturn Storm -- Infrared Image, NASA's Phoenix Lander on Mars, Nearly a Decade Later, Saturn Arrival -- A Guide to Saturn Orbit Insertion, Earth May Have Captured a 1960s-Era Rocket Booster, Hubble Sees Unexplained Brightness from Colossal Explosion, NASA's Curiosity Takes Selfie With 'Mary Anning' on the Red Planet, Review Indicates NASA Prepared for Mars Sample Return Campaign, Europa Glows: Radiation Does a Bright Number on Jupiter's Moon. hydrogen. a disturbance discovered in 1990 that can extend completely around the Jupiter. This difference indicates that Saturn, like Jupiter, possesses a source of internal heat. shows a red anticyclonic disturbance about the diameter of the Earth. hydrogen state occurs at about half of Saturn's radius. It is thought that Jupiter underwent a similar process of origin but that it captured an even greater amount of gas. has less extensive of a trapped charged particle region than The effect is more than just a cool visual. Available data and its applications 3.2.1. For it still to be radiating at Jupiter’s level means that its energy apparently is coming at least partially from a different source. planet's internal heat source, but none are as large as the Great Red Spot on All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. images of the Great White Spot, This occurs at a depth of 20,000 km (12,500 miles) below the clouds, or about one-third of the distance to the planet’s centre. Under the cloud layers, when the pressure of the interior becomes high enough, the hydrogen of which Saturn is made changes to liquid hydrogen , which gradually changes further to liquid metallic hydrogen . ). planet. This illustration shows the interior of Saturn, including its core of heavy elements (orange), liquid metallic hydrogen layer (grey), and gaseous molecular hydrogen envelope (brown). The striking change observed in the magnetic field rotation period over the past 25 years, mentioned above, may be related to the action of deep electric currents involving the conducting core. The adjacent animation shows a sequence of Hubble Space Telescope If Saturn had slowly cooled, its energy output would have dropped below the presently observed value about two billion years ago. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. Original file (SVG file, nominally 866 × 373 pixels, file size: 22 KB). This image is a derivative work of the following images: File:Interior_of_Saturn.jpg licensed with PD-user . NASA Official: The left image is a false-color view of Saturn's A ring from the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The outer layer is primarily composed of molecular hydrogen. From this "surface" the dense liquid/gas (shown in gray) compresses still further, over a distance of twenty-five thousand miles, until some of the electrons are forced from their atoms by the extreme pressure, and wandering freely between the hydrogen atoms cause the normally non-conducting material to act like a molten metal (shown in dark gray) known as "metallic hydrogen". 2007-05-31T13:37:30Z Mungany 960x720 (34798 Bytes) {{Information |Description=Interior of Saturn |Source=Personal photo |Date=May 31 2007 |Author= |Permission= |other_versions= }} Interior of Saturn.Licence:{{PD-user|Mungany}} The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong. As we A gaseous atmosphere (shown in light gray) a few hundred miles thick rapidly compresses under its own weight to the density of a liquid. The calculated electrical conductivity of Saturn’s outer core of fluid metallic hydrogen is such that if slow circulation currents are present—as would be expected with the flow of heat to the surface accompanied by gravitational settling of denser components—there is sufficient dynamo action to generate the planet’s observed magnetic field. Amanda Barnett On the other hand, the external part of the field that can be observed by spacecraft is quite regular, with a dipole axis that is nearly aligned with the rotation axis. The rapid rotation and low mean density that lead to distortion of the planet’s physical shape also distort the shape of its gravitational field.