Astronomy Journal Entry
Mysterious Hot Spot at Saturn’s Pole (January 21, 2008)
Thanks to new pictures from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, astronomers spotted a mysterious hot spot at Saturn’s chilly north pole. The spot is a spinning vortex of gases much hotter than its surroundings.
A similar spot was found earlier on Saturn’s south pole, currently bathed in sunlight. But astronomers were shocked to find a matching one on the wintry north pole, where the Sun hasn’t been shining since 1995.
The hot spots are likely due to currents plunging down into the troposphere or weather layer of the atmosphere from higher altitudes. As gas in the atmosphere moves down towards the poles, it gets …. (more)
Polar view showing hot spot and hexagonal ring at Saturn’s north pole.
NASA JPL.
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Movement of the plates that made up the
supercontinent Pangaea could have stopped
temporarily and decreased Earth’s volcanic activity.
Credit: Nicolle Rager, National Science Foundation,
based on Pangaea map data, Paleogeographic Atlas
Project, University of Chicago
Time and tide may wait for no man, but continents occasionally do. That’s the conclusion of a study published today in Science, which finds that the inexorable drift of Earth’s tectonic plates isn’t inexorable at all. In fact, the planet could be headed for another pause in continental drift, with uncertain and possibly ominous consequences…. (more)
Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano is getting feisty again. In recent weeks, the volcano belched clouds of dark ash and streams of lava. Lahars or mudslides rumbled down its slopes while the ground around the summit shook from swarms of small quakes.