The ringed planet has rhythm. Researchers previously observed a regular pulsation in the ultraviolet glow of Saturn's aurorae, and now show that this beats in time with the planet's radio emissions.
In the 1980s, when the Voyager spacecraft detected an electromagnetic pulse oscillating in a recurring, 11-hour period, this was thought to be tied to the planet's rotation. But over the years the beat has sped up and slowed down. Jonathan Nichols at the University of Leicester, UK, and his colleagues analysed images (pictured) from the Hubble Space Telescope to show that Saturn's dazzling aurorae change intensity in time with the radio emissions. This suggests that the two are physically linked. Further studies of Saturn's magnetosphere may uncover the reason for the radio period's odd pace, the authors say.
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Astronomy: Saturn's beat. Nature 466, 904 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/466904d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/466904d
