Hail found from Saturn's belt

In the last days of the mission to fly around Saturn, the Cassini space probe has recorded the flow of molecules scientists call 'belt rain'.

The international team of researchers has published the results of data analysis sent to the Earth by Cassini since September last year, just before the time the ship flew into Saturn's thick atmosphere and did not return. It turned out, then, that ice and silicate debris fell on the planet from Saturn's belt.

Cassini's space journey lasted 20 years, including 13 years of orbiting Saturn. In 2010, NASA decided to end Cassini's mission with a controlled collision, so that after the fuel ran out the ship did not fall into one of Saturn's satellites and polluted. environment there.

It seems that in Saturn's belt there are lots of silicate beads and ice.

In the last months, Cassini spins around Saturn 22 times on orbits between the outermost atmosphere and the interior. This increases the opportunity to gather additional information about Saturn and its perimeter. The newly published studies have compiled this information.

Cassini has responded to the hope of scientists. For the first time, the ship showed how the belts interacted with atmospheric layers above Saturn (while losing ice particles, small dust and gas). Some small particles of ice and dust carry electricity and travel in a spiral path around the magnetic field lines and fall down to the upper latitude of Saturn. Some other particles were pulled down quite quickly in the planetary equator. During the final flight, the ship recorded nearly 3,000 small particles. On that basis, scientists estimate that every second about 10 tons of material falls from the belt to Saturn.

The composition of the rain also surprised. It seems that in Saturn's belt there are many silicate beads and ice , but there are also organic molecules like methane, ammonia, carbon oxide and carbon dioxide. Their proportions differ from those on Saturn satellites such as Titan or Enceladus - this proves that in Mars system there are at least three 'reservoirs' of these particles. In the belts there are different molecules and debris; however, in the area under the belt there are many small particles, nanometer-sized, reminiscent of smoke. This shows that there is a process of grinding and rubbing particles that we don't know yet. The researchers noted on small pieces of ice with dust. Analysis of these ice fragments can help assess the age of Saturn's belt.

Devices on Cassini also show that there are unknown radiation belts, containing many charged particles and a strong electric system, between the rings and atmospheric layers above Saturn.