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After six years observing the ringed planet closely , researchers have unraveled multiple mysteries about its gases, its multiple moons, and the spectacular rings that surround it, which have turned out to be the most complex and largest in the solar system. Two articles published this week in the journal Science combine data from the Cassini probe , the result of collaboration between NASA’s Ames Center, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), with observations made with telescopes. at ground level, as well as thousands of data obtained decades ago by Voyager probes , to offer the most complete portrait of Saturn made to date .
Among other things, astronomers have concluded that lThe particles in the main rings, called A and B, are made up of 90 or 95 percent water icewhile those of ring C are probably contaminated with carbon and silicate of meteorite origin. Furthermore, they suggest thatmysterious reddish coloration, which contaminates part of the ring system, could be due tosmall groups of carbon rings or to iron particleswith a negative charge.
On the other hand, analyzing the speeds of the winds and the jets that affect the atmosphere of Saturn, and listening to the sound of the storms that shake the planet, they have concluded that theirmagnetosfera – which forms around the planets when solar winds interact with the planet’s magnetic field – has a hybrid structure between that of Jupiter and that of Earth.
