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X-Ray Emission From Saturn



 
 
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Old March 9th 04, 12:02 AM
Ron
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Default X-Ray Emission From Saturn

http://www.edpsciences.org/papers/aa...R20030736.html

Astronomy & Astrophysics Press Release

X-ray emission from Saturn
Released on March 8th, 2004

'X-ray emission from Saturn', by Ness et al.
To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics


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For the first time, an unambiguous X-ray emission was detected on Saturn by
a team from Hamburg University (Germany). The image obtained with the
Chandra X-ray Observatory clearly shows an X-ray emission that is
concentrated near Saturn's equator. This result was very unexpected in
comparison to Jupiter's X-ray emission: on Jupiter, X-ray emission is mainly
concentrated near the poles and is related to the auroral mechanism. The
physical processes explaining Saturn's X-ray emission are still unknown.
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Saturne émet des rayons X

Pour la première fois, des rayons X en provenance de la planète Saturne ont
été clairement détectés par une équipe de l'Université de Hambourg
(Allemagne). Obtenue avec l'observatoire spatial Chandra, l'image de Saturne
aux longueurs d'onde X montre une forte concentration de l'émission X dans
la région équatoriale. Ce résultat a beaucoup surpris les astronomes, qui
recherchaient un signal similaire à celui observé sur Jupiter : les rayons X
émis par Jupiter sont concentrés dans les régions polaires, et reliés au
mécanisme des aurores. Dans le cas de Saturne, les processus physiques à
l'origine des rayons X observés restent encore inconnus.
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The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a space observatory dedicated to X-ray
astronomy. Launched on July 23rd, 1999, this X-ray telescope is particularly
dedicated to the observation of high-energy sources in the universe. It has
also been used to study the following solar system objects: the Moon, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and even the Comet C/1999 S4 LINEAR.

Using Chandra, J.-U. Ness and his colleagues detected an unambiguous X-ray
emission from the planet Saturn for the first time. A few years ago, a
possible such emission was observed using ROSAT, but the present detection
is the first certain one.

Ness and his team observed Saturn in April 2003 for about 20 hours. The
picture below shows the X-ray image of Saturn that they obtained (in false
colour). Each colour (RGB) corresponds to a different energy range of the
observed X-rays. Beyond the X-ray detection from Saturn, this Chandra
observation allowed the investigators to perform the first in-depth analysis
of this emission. The same team also detected X-ray emissions from Saturn
using the XMM-Newton Observatory. The observed signal was very similar to
what was found with Chandra.

[Image]

Besides Saturn, other bodies of the solar system, such as the Earth, the
Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, comets, and Galilean satellites, emit X-rays.
Depending upon the body, these emissions originate from different physical
processes. One of the major processes occurs when these bodies scatter the
solar X-rays produced by the hot, tenuous solar corona. For all terrestrial
bodies that emit X-rays - that is, the Earth, the Moon, and Venus - this
mechanism is the main production process of X-rays.

Spectral analysis of the X-rays detected from Saturn with Chandra shows that
the signal looks remarkably like that of solar X-ray emissions. This
indicates that Saturn's X-ray emission originates from solar X-rays
scattering in Saturn's atmosphere, a result that is very surprising, as such
a process has already been studied on the Moon and was not expected to be so
efficient on Saturn.

In addition to the scattering of solar X-rays, on Earth, X-rays are also
produced by the same mechanism that creates the aurorae in the polar
regions. Aurorae are caused by solar wind electrons that enter the Earth's
atmosphere, thus resulting in these spectacular visible lights. At the same
time, X-rays are also produced. The same mechanism has been found to exist
on Jupiter: Jovian aurorae have been detected in the UV wavelengths, along
with an associated X-ray emission. Saturn was also expected to emit X-rays
in the polar region, since spectacular polar aurorae have been observed in
the UV wavelengths.

With Chandra, J.-U. Ness and his colleagues were able to study for the very
first time how the X-rays are distributed on Saturn's disk, in order to look
for polar X-ray emission. They found that the observed X-ray emission
appears to be concentrated around Saturn's equator. Surprisingly, no auroral
X-ray emission has been observed at all. However, the North Pole was
occulted by Saturn's rings and X-ray emission from northern polar regions
may have been hidden.

Comparison between Saturn's and Jupiter's X-ray emissions shows that their
X-ray production mechanisms are very different. First of all, the spatial
distribution differs: on Jupiter, X-rays are concentrated in polar regions
(see Chandra press release about Jupiter), suggesting that magnetic fields
play an important role. Such a polar X-ray emission has not been found on
Saturn, but cannot be excluded. Secondly, the X-ray flux on Saturn is
significantly lower than that seen on Jupiter. Nonetheless, the emission
level observed from Saturn is consistent with the X-ray equatorial emission
from Jupiter, indicating that both emissions originate from similar
processes. Ness and his colleagues point out that no single mechanism can
easily account for the observed emissions; therefore, they expect combined
mechanisms to be involved.

Thanks to the high-angular resolution of the Chandra Observatory, the new
detection of X-ray emissions from Saturn, as well as recent results on the
same subject from Jupiter, will allow for important progress in the
observations of X-rays on giant planets.

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X-ray emission from Saturn
by J.-U. Ness, J.H.M.M. Schmitt, S.J. Wolk, K. Dennerl, V. Burwitz
To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (DOI number:
10.1051/0004-6361:20035736)
Full article available in PDF format

Additional information:

* The Chandra X-ray Observatory website: http://chandra.harvard.edu/

Contact persons:

* Science: Dr. Jan-Uwe Ness

Hamburger Sternwarte
Gojenbergsweg 112
D-21029 Hamburg
Germany
Phone: 49 40 42891 4177 - Email:

* Press office: Dr. Jennifer Martin

Journal Astronomy & Astrophysics
61, avenue de l'Observatoire
75014 Paris
France
Phone: 33 1 43 29 05 41 - Email:

 




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