Dragonfly is heading to Titan in the near future and spoke season has just begin in Saturn’s rings. NASA / ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope spotted the spoke phenomenon on October 22, 2023 as these transient features rotate along with the rings for two or three rotations around the planet.
Scientists believe that the spokes are caused by Saturn’s powerful magnetic field, due to some sort of solar interaction with the magnetic field. When it’s near the equinox, the planet and its rings are less tilted away from the Sun, thus allowing the solar wind to strongly batter Saturn’s immense magnetic field, enhancing spoke formation.
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We are heading towards Saturn equinox, when we’d expect maximum spoke activity, with higher frequency and darker spokes appearing over the next few years,” said Amy Simo, OPAL Program Lead Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
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