Saturn’s Northern Hemisphere puts on dazzling light show for Cassini

The tallest known auroras in our solar system were discovered as Cassini imaged the first “northern lights” on the planet Saturn.

The auroras have a vertical pattern, which resemble tall curtains flapping in the wind. Some of which are seen 750 miles above the planet’s northern hemisphere.

Auroras occur on Earth as we all know, but they occur on other planets as well in our solar system. The new images from Saturn help us gain more knowledge into how auroras work. “Seeing these things on another planet helps us understand them a little better when we see them on Earth.” said Andrew Ingersoll of the Cassini imaging team.



An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this image recorded by Cassini.


The new data seems to be helping already. Auroras occur when charged particles from a planet’s magnetosphere enter the atmosphere. So the heights of the auroras on Saturn say much about its atmospheric differences compared to the Earth.

The Earth’s atmosphere is mainly oxygen and nitrogen. The atmosphere of Saturn is primarily hydrogen, which is much lighter. This causes the atmosphere to extend out further from the planet, in turn increasing the height of the auroras.



An aurora, shining high above the northern part of Saturn, moves from the night side to the day side of the planet in this movie recorded by Cassini.

Cassini has imaged the auroras of Saturn before, but that was using its ultraviolet and infrared imaging tools. These new images taken in October were captured with the visible light camera. The images were originally in black and white, but the imaging team enhanced them with a orange false-color to highlight the auroras.

The oxygen and nitrogen of the Earth’s atmosphere are what give our auroras their green, blue, and red colors. More needs to be studied about the atmosphere of Saturn to have a more accurate idea of what the colors of its auroras are.



A Cassini scientist, Dr. Andy Ingersoll, explains the flickering "northern lights" high above Saturn, shown for the first time in a visible-light movie.