| Welcome to KSAT, the radio station broadcasting from the poles of Saturn. For years, scientists have been puzzled by the pulsing intensity of radio emissions from the ringed planet. Puzzling, because the scientists couldn't key the pulses to any known phenomenon. The 11-hour intervals approximated but didn't match Saturn's rotation rate, so the planet's magnetic field couldn't be the source. Nor could scientists find any connection between the radio-signal intensity and variations in the solar wind. Now researchers examining 5 years of images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft, which orbits Saturn and its moons, say they've found a clue. In an upcoming issue of Geophysical Research Letters, a team reports that the variations in radio signal coincide with the intensity of the planet's auroras. That revelation doesn't solve the mystery, however. So scientists have started looking for the cause of the auroral variations. One prime candidate: particle emissions from Saturn's moon Enceladus. |
欢迎来到KSAT广播站，该广播站正在从土星的极地进行广播。多年来，科学家们对这个光环行星散发出的无线电脉冲信号的强度感到困惑。他们感到困惑，是因为他们不能在已知的现象中找到跟这种脉冲相关的情况。11个小时的间隔接近土星的转动速度，但是并不正好匹配，因此土星的磁场不是信号源。科学家们在无线电信号的强度和太阳风的变化之间也未能找到任何联系。目前，研究人员审查了来自哈勃太空望远镜和“卡西尼”号太空船的五年间的图像资料，他们说找到了线索。“卡西尼”号太空船是环绕土星及其卫星的探测器。在即将出版的《地球物理学研究快报》上，一个研究小组报道说，无线电信号的变化跟土星极光的强度正好一致。然而，这个情况的透露并不能揭示该谜团。因此，科学家们已经开始寻找极光变化的原因。一种最主要的可能性是：土卫二的粒子释放。 |
