Researchers at Northumbria University have used the most powerful space telescope ever built to answer one of the longest-standing puzzles in planetary science—why does Saturn appear to spin at a different speed depending on how you measure it? The findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, reveal for the first time the complex patterns of heat and electrically charged particles in Saturn's aurora, and show that the entire system is driven by a self-sustaining feedback loop powered by the planet's own northern lights.
