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Odd Saturn

February 4, 2009 on 4:18 am | In My crazy ideas | 1 Comment

I have once pondered the possibility of life on Saturn. Sounds impossible on the surface, but you never know. I was reading the March 2009 issue of Astronomy Magazine, and there is an article in the Astro news (pg 20) called “Saturn shows off odd aurora.” I’ll tell you about that in a minute. Not too long ago they discovered a hexagon shape on the north pole of saturn. I think the same shape of a bee hive. That can’t be natural. But they claim it is. Anyway, now there is an “odd aurora” there, virtually following the hexagon shape. They say it glows in infrared light and has no known counterpart in the solar system. It’s not just a ring like on Earth or Jupiter, this one covers a very large area across the pole. Earth’s aurorae have something to do with the solar wind and the magnetic field. Jupiter produces them from charged particles trapped in their magnetospheres. They say this one on Saturn doesn’t fit either category. The glow sometimes fills the pole from 82 degrees latitude up, but the infrared glow changes constantly and sometimes disappears alltogether. They say theories on what causes Saturn’s aurora predict this region should be empty.

Just before I read this article, I read Bob Berman’s Strange Universe, my favorite column. This month’s title is “Alien Winds.” He mentions what Venus is like. The south pole has a circular vortex, a permanent hurricane with absolute calm in the middle.

I naturally put those two together and it supports my previous theory that the north pole of Saturn is calm. Maybe even lower pressure too. I don’t know about the super fast spinning though. I’m sure life would adapt to crazy conditions like that, like they can in those hydrothermal vents under the sea. Maybe the stars above would turn like the second hand on a clock, that could serve as a natural clock. Who knows? I just find Saturn very intriguing. It is one of the few heavenly bodies I have actually seen through a telescope myself. I’ve seen Jupiter and it’s moons, and even some detail of Jupiter itself. I have a small telescope, but I hope to someday acquire some property in a nice open dark area and build an observatory.

I am very facinated with Astronomy!