Galileo Galilei was used to to surprising discoveries. Using his primordial telescope, he had found new worlds orbiting Jupiter, watched planet-sized spots crossing the Sun, and explored craters on the Moon. But when Galileo turned his telescope toward Saturn in 1610, even he was amazed. The planet looked nothing like others in the solar system. Saturn appeared to be one brilliant star narrowly flanked by two dimmer ones — a blurry suggestion of the planet’s magnificent rings.
But, nowadays anybody with any telescope, one can get a better view of Saturn’s rings than Galileo did. Still the real lord of the rings keep stunning the researchers with its mysterious spokes in the rings.
The new theory says the mysterious spokes in Saturn’s rings may be created by massive thunderstorms in the planet’s atmosphere. These overwhelming events of faint features are the lightning strokes ten thousand times more energetic than those on Earth, releasing beams of electrons that surge up from Saturn’s surface to whack into the rings and blast out jets of electrically charged dust.
The new theory though remains speculative, as no one has ever seen storm-induced electron beams on Saturn; however, the researchers say that the theory would explain some puzzling features of the spokes, and that it fits with what is known about the effects of thunderstorms on Earth.
After all this time, we’re still not sure about the spokes of Saturn’s rings. In another few hundred million years, Saturn’s rings will sag inward and our solar system will become a little more ordinary. Perhaps by then star-faring humans will have seen countless ringed planets elsewhere in the Galaxy and won’t care much what happened to Saturn. On the other hand, maybe Saturn’s rings really are a Galactic wonder, and super-engineers of the distant future will take measures to preserve them but no one knows for sure.
We can only be sure that Saturn’s rings are lovely now. And it is also thought that they are fleeting, if it is indeed so, their short life makes them even more wonderful. So don’t miss them!
Via: Hindu
