HTTP:: Darkness Falls over Saturn 039 s Rings
--------
Saturn, the second-largest planet in the solar system, features a large number of rings, some of which usually experience a brief “night,†lasting from six to 14 hours. At times, however, the entire ring system is engulfed by shadows, when the planet reaches its equinox. This happens once every 15 Earth years, and the latest such occurrence took place on August 11. Fortunately for us, the Cassini space probe was in orbit around the gas giant, and sent back some of the most outstanding measurements of the phenomenon's influences that astronomers ever got the chance to look at. “The equinox is a very special geometry, where the sun is turned off as far as the rings themselves are concerned, and all energy comes from Saturn,†NASA expert Dr. Michael Flasar explains. He is a scientist at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland. During the recent equinox, which saw the rings shadowed for a full four days, the temperature inside the dust and ice!
formations dropped to -382 degrees Fahrenheit, or -230 degree Celsius, the lowest ever recorded. Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) instrument was responsible for taking the extremely precise measurements, which will help further our understanding of the planet. “The whole point of the CIRS observations of Satu...
--------
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Darkness-Falls-Over-Saturn-s-Rings-125190.shtml
--------
This e-mail was sent by Experiment23 Inc., located in New York, NY
10163. To not receive further e-mails, please visit
http://help.pingie.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment