Sticky layers flow like honey inside Saturn

Little Mohamed Western

Saturn's inner layers have been described by scientists as sticky and flowing like honey. The discovery helps solve the mystery of the strong winds that travel the planet's surface to depths up to 8,500 kilometers below the surface.

Unlike Earth, Saturn, which is classified as a gas planet, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, does not have a solid surface, consisting mostly of hydrogen and helium, which moves liquid.

The giant gaseous planets with their surface roamed by colorful storms like Saturn are still full of mystery, but space probes sent to explore such objects like Cassini are beginning to uncover their secrets.

Unknown depths
In 2017, the Cassini probe landed on Saturn, ending a nearly two-decade exploration mission, but this dramatic end of the probe was useful to scientists.Using the data recorded by Cassini during his final voyage, he penetrated Saturn's meteor as a meteorite to make an important discovery: The liquid inner part of the gas giant may be sticky and flow "like honey."

Saturn resembles his older brother Jupiter, dominated by violent winds, or jet streams, roaming their atmosphere and giving them a planned appearance. The depth of these outflows remained unknown until recently.

In the case of Jupiter, the Juno probe last year studied the gravitational field of the planet to find that it is located at a depth of three thousand kilometers below the surface, and at this depth of the planet's magnetic field strongly influence the fluids that make up the nucleus of the planet.

The discovery of this interface between jet streams and gases under magnetic influence has led some scientists to assume that the magnetic effect could be the reason gas flows do not exist at this depth.

Analysis of Cassini data earlier this year revealed some similarities between Saturn and Jupiter, and found that Saturn's jet streams continue to a depth of 8,500 kilometers before a similar effect suddenly occurs.

A new theory
Researchers Jeffrey Parker of the Livermore Laboratory in California and Navid Costantino of the National University of Australia in the new study, published August 27 in the Journal of Physical Review Fluids, sought to explain the reasons for this effect.

According to the researchers, magnetic fields at this depth begin to strongly influence the liquid gases within Saturn, as in Jupiter; so scientists assumed that the magnetic fields have a role in stopping the flows of jet currents at those depths.

Conductive fluids
Scientists believe that at these depths, high pressure converts fluids into conductors that can be affected by the planet's magnetic fields. Flows at a depth of 8500 kilometers.

Constantino describes the discovery as "the first theoretical prediction that applies to turbulent dynamic magnetic flows," as it is known, but notes that further study is needed.

This can be done through more detailed simulations and comparisons between Jupiter and Saturn data, or through future space probes that can further measure the magnetic field and magnetism hidden within the two gas giants.