Saturn's Magnetic Field and Magnetoshpere

From Pioneer investigations, scientists discovered that the magnetic field of Saturn is aligned with the planet's axis of rotation, unlike the fields of Jupiter and Earth. This discovery has led to revisions in the theories on the origin of magnetic fields, which had previously relied on an offset between the field's axis and the planet's rotation axis to produce large planetary magnetic fields.



The magnetosphere of Saturn is a large region surrounding the planet where charged particles are trapped by the magnetic field, and it is about one-third the size of Jupiter's. Radiation belts surround Saturn at the orbits of Titan and the larger icy satellites. The belts extend more than 2 million km from the canter of Saturn and even farther in the direction away from the sun. It fluctuates, depending on the intensity of the solar wind. The source for these particles is most likely the atmosphere of Titan and the surfaces of the icy satellites and ring particles.

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