This creates storm systems that dramatically change depending on which part of its orbit Saturn is in. For staters, winds in the upper atmosphere can reach speeds of up to 5oo meters per second 1, feet per second around the equatorial region. Great White Oval. These spots can be several thousands of kilometers wide, and have been observed on many occasions throughout the past — in , , , , and Since , a large band of white clouds called the Northern Electrostatic Disturbance have been observed, which was spotted by the Cassini space probe.
At the north pole, Saturn experiences a hexagonal wave pattern which measures some 30, km 20, mi in diameter, while each of it six sides measure about 13, km 8, mi. This persistent storm can reach speeds of about km per hour mph. Thanks to images taken by the Cassini probe between and , the storm appears to undergo changes in color from a bluish haze to a golden-brown hue that coincide with the approach of the summer solstice.
This was attributed to an increase in the production of photochemical hazes in the atmosphere, which is due to increased exposure to sunlight. Similarly, in the southern hemisphere, images acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope have indicated the existence of large jet stream.
And much like the northern hexagonal storm, the southern jet stream undergoes changes as a result of increased exposure to sunlight. Cassini was able to captured images of the south polar region in , which coincided with late fall in the southern hemisphere. The reason for this, it was argued, was that decreases in sunlight led to the formation of methane aerosols and the creation of cloud cover. From this, it has been surmised that the polar regions become increasingly obscured by methane clouds as their respective hemisphere approaches their winter solstice, and clearer as they approach their summer solstice.
Much like the length of a single year, what we know about Saturn has a lot to do with its considerable distance from the Sun. In short, few missions have been able to study it in depth, and the length of a single year means it is difficult for a probe to witness all the seasonal changes the planet goes through. It is believed to be similar to what a very young Earth was like, and one of the very few places that has the potential for life. Saturn has a magnetic field slightly weaker than Earth's.
Saturn has been visited by several spacecraft including Pioneer 11 , Voyager 1 , Voyager 2 , and Cassini. Saturn Factbox Average distance from Sun 9. Average distance from Sun. Number of moons. Average orbital speed. For this problem, the knowns and unknowns are listed below. Note that the radius of a satellite's orbit can be found from the knowledge of the earth's radius and the height of the satellite above the earth. As shown in the diagram at the right, the radius of orbit for a satellite is equal to the sum of the earth's radius and the height above the earth.
These two quantities can be added to yield the orbital radius. In this problem, the km must first be converted to m before being added to the radius of the earth.
The equations needed to determine the unknown are listed above. We will begin by determining the orbital speed of the satellite using the following equation:. Equation 1 was derived above. Equation 2 is a general equation for circular motion. Either equation can be used to calculate the acceleration. The use of equation 1 will be demonstrated here. Observe that this acceleration is slightly less than the 9. As discussed in Lesson 3 , the increased distance from the center of the earth lowers the value of g.
The period of the moon is approximately Determine the radius of the moon's orbit and the orbital speed of the moon. Like Practice Problem 2, this problem begins by identifying known and unknown values. These are shown below. By taking the cube root of 5. Either equation can be used to calculate the orbital speed; the use of equation 1 will be demonstrated here.
The substitution of values into this equation and solution are as follows:. A geosynchronous satellite is a satellite that orbits the earth with an orbital period of 24 hours, thus matching the period of the earth's rotational motion.
A special class of geosynchronous satellites is a geostationary satellite. A geostationary satellite orbits the earth in 24 hours along an orbital path that is parallel to an imaginary plane drawn through the Earth's equator. Such a satellite appears permanently fixed above the same location on the Earth. If a geostationary satellite wishes to orbit the earth in 24 hours s , then how high above the earth's surface must it be located?
Just as in the previous problem, the solution begins by the identification of the known and unknown values. This is shown below. The unknown in this problem is the height h of the satellite above the surface of the earth.
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