HIGHLIGHTS 

A few of Saturn's aurorae, according to scientists, are caused by whirling winds.

New study sheds light on the phenomenon of auroras.

Researchers at the College of Leicester reported their findings.

WHY IN NEWS 

An aurora is a stunning show of spontaneous objects in the sky that may be observed at night near the North and South Poles. Aurorae are thought to be formed when solar storms contact with Earth's magnetic field, or when streamers of charged ions released by the Sun become trapped in the Earth's magnetic field. On most other planets, this is also the case. However, scientists from the University of Leicester claim to have discovered that this phenomena does not cause all auroras. They claim to have discovered a never-before-seen process near Saturn's south pole that causes planetary aurorae.

ALSO READ : Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network has been hit by a geomagnetic storm

What is this mechanism's purpose? According to the researchers, some of Saturn's aurorae are caused by whirling winds within the planet's atmosphere, rather than by interactions between the solar wind and the planet's magnetosphere. The way we think about planetary aurorae has altered as a result of this finding. It also answers one of Saturn's mysteries: why haven't we been able to determine the duration of a day on the planet? Cassini was launched by NASA in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. Since then, it has attempted to establish the duration of its day by measuring how rapidly it spins. This is accomplished by tracking 'pulses' of radio radiation from Saturn's atmosphere. Saturn's mass rotation rate looked to have altered after the Voyager 2 probe passed by the planet in 1981, which shocked scientists.

ALSO READ : Unique Twin Asteroids Discovered by Scientists Could Be the Youngest Asteroids All Seen

The findings were published in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters journal . According to a paper from the University of Leicester, according to their understanding of planetary core mechanics, the genuine rotation rate of a planet cannot fluctuate this fast, hence something extraordinary must be happening at Saturn.  They discovered that the whirling pattern of weather in Saturn's atmosphere generates a major amount of the planet's aurorae, which is accountable for the planet's apparent changing rate of rotation. Chowdhury claims that their research is the first to identify the primary driver of the planet's aurorae, which is located in the planet's high atmosphere. He went on to say that this would probably lead to a rethinking of how the impacts of local atmospheric conditions on a planet affect the development of aurorae.

ALSO READ 

1) Google Chrome for Pc now has a Voyage feature that allows you to resume previous searches.

2) Years after release, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket burns apart in Earth's atmosphere.

3) The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has unveiled Param Pravega, its newest supercomputer.