The mysterious aurora was discovered on Saturn

Saturn has special aurorae that light up polarity unlike any known planetary aurora in the solar system. This strange aurora resides on infrared devices from NASA's Cassini cylindrical vessel.

Tom Stallard, a scientist working with data from Cassini at the University of Leicester, UK, said: 'We have never seen any aurora like that. It's not just the ring of light that we see on Earth and Jupiter. This aurora covers a large area spread across the pole. Our ideas about what forms the aurora on Saturn show that the area is completely empty, so discovering such a bright aurora is an interesting surprise. '

The aurora is formed from charged particles moving along the planet's magnetic fields into the atmosphere. The charged elements from the Sun create the aurora on Earth. Not all aurora on Saturn and Jupiter are formed from the magnetic parts trapped inside the planet's magnetic field.

The main aurora ring on Jupiter, formed from the inner interactions with Jupiter's magnetic field, has the same size. The main aurora on Saturn, formed from polar winds, changes in size rapidly when the wind changes. However, new aurora was discovered on Saturn, not in both cases.

The mysterious aurora was discovered on Saturn (Photo: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona)

Nick Achilleos, a member of the Cassini magnetic field team at University College London, said: 'The strange features of Saturn's aurora show that there is something special and unknown about the magnetic field. this planet as well as the interaction between polar winds and the planet's atmosphere. The attempt to explain the origin of aurora will lead to physical phenomena occurring only in Jupiter's environment. '

Infrared aurora appears in an area outside of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope observation. Cassini observed this aurora as it moved near Jupiter's polar region. In infrared light, aurora sometimes covers the area from about 82 degrees of extreme northern stretch. This new aurora is constantly changing, even disappearing in about 45 minutes.

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Jet laboratory, a unit of California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, controls the spacecraft for NASA's Space Science Board, Washington, DC The Cassini orbiter is designed, development and assembly at JPL.