Title
Ground-based observations of Saturn's north polar spot and hexagon
Date Issued
01 January 1993
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Bureau des Longitudes
Publisher(s)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Abstract
Ground-based observations of two conspicuous features near the north pole of Saturn, the polar vortex and the hexagonal wave structure, were made from July 1990 to October 1991, 10 years after their discovery. During this period the polar spot drifted in longitude, relative to system III, by -0.0363° per day on average. Superimposed on this mean motion, the spot also underwent short-term rapid excursions in longitude of up to ∼14° at rates of up to ∼1° per day. The spot also exhibited irregular variations in its latitude location. A combination of these data together with those obtained by Voyager 1 and 2 in 1980 and 1981 shows that the spot drifted -0.0577° per day for the linear interval from 1980 to 1991. The large lifetime of both features indicates that they are insensitive to the strong variations in the seasonal heating of the cloud layers in the upper polar atmosphere.
Start page
329
End page
332
Volume
260
Issue
5106
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Astronomía
Geología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-0000584281
Source
Science
ISSN of the container
00368075
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus