Scientists are always asking questions. In the pursuit of answering them, they often encounter riddles that only serve up a side of more questions. Other times, they discover something new… but even those answers come with questions. Such was the case when scientists asked themselves, “Why can’t we figure out how long a day lasts on Saturn?”

A Day on Saturn

An Earth day is simple to measure because there are visible landmarks all over its surface. Tracking a landmark, you know a full rotation is one day! Saturn, though, is covered in clouds of gas, making it impossible to select and track a landmark. What it does have, however, is a magnetic field that, like Earth, emits radio pulses. Despite the gaseous vapors, magnetic fields and the accompanying pulse can still be tracked.  But for some reason, this didn’t work with Saturn like it has for other gaseous planets. Since the 80s, probes have tried to track and measure the rotation of its fields. Oddly, the length of rotation changed. In other words, the length of a day changed.  Even the Cassini, a spacecraft that orbited Saturn for thirteen years, couldn't figure it out. What it did learn was that Saturn has three observable magnetic fields with radio pulses, which might be helpful to think of as beacons or lighthouses. They spun at different speeds.  In 2019, observing scientists discovered that any sort of movement inside Saturn, including rotation, led to a gravity field shift that created a visible ripple effect on the planet’s rings. In watching these ripples, scientists were able to track movement and come up with a conclusion — a day on Saturn is 10 hours, 33 minutes, and 38 seconds. 

Mystery of the Magnetic Beacons

They still didn’t understand the magnetic field beacons, though. The team at hand hypothesized that by picking and tracking a beacon and comparing it with the atmosphere, they’d find more answers. After years of observation and analysis, they had a conclusion— a spinning maelstrom of wind was bending and spinning the magnetic field lines. That was why measuring the length of a day based on the magnetic fields was inconsistent.  Such is science, the spinning gusts of wind served up another discovery— a new type of aurora that relied on plasma from the Icy volcanoes of a Saturn moon. A physics researcher says it’s the first time the world has seen “an aurora driven by atmospheric winds.”

Learn About More Scientific Discoveries With Apex Magnets 

We know that our blog readers enjoy these kinds of revelatory scientific stories, especially when it relates to the force we all know and love— magnetism. Even though Apex Magnets specializes in magnets that are a little more “down to Earth,” we still find it exciting to think of the universal implications of magnetism. Discover more on our blog.