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Sunday, 4. July 2004

Saturn's Days are Shortening!


It's hardly surprising that this hasn't been more widely reported, fot it's quite scary to know that something in our solar system is undergoing a lot of change, and we don't why!

Because Saturn's clouds offer no way to gauge the planet's true spin rate, scientists instead rely on periodic bursts of long-wavelength radio energy linked to Saturn's magnetic field and, by implication, its deep interior. These bursts were detected as early as April 2003, and they show that the planet spins once every 10 hours, 45 minutes, and 45 seconds. But that's about 6 minutes slower than the rate clocked when the Voyager spacecraft called on the ringed giant in 1980 and 1981. Donald S. Gurnett (University of Iowa) says he and other members of the Cassini Radio Plasma Wave Science team have no idea why Saturn has slowed down.



Source: Sky & Telescope

 
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