Saturn Has a Warm Pole

Artifex writes "Astronomers using infrared imaging capabilities at Keck Observatory in Hawaii have discovered that Saturn's "south" pole is warm - the first warm pole detected in the solar system. "

Comments

Re:$PLANET has a warm pole...

[deglr6328]

Since Uranus is tilted on its axis almost ninety degrees it is very likely that the same polar vortex mechanism is at work there (probably even bigger effect than on Saturn) too and we jest haven't seen it yet due to a lack of angular resolution from our ground telescopes. So yes, Uranus probably does have a big hot pole!

Re:You're not doing it right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, no, the magnetic pole is only vaguely close to the rotational pole; and the magnetic polarity of a planet is capable of shifting, while the rotational polarity does not. And a body might be rotated 180 deg to the ecliptic, too, so that its rotational south pole is lined up with the planets' rotational north poles. So one has to decide whether the "south" pole is the rotational south pole or the ecliptical south pole. Me, I'd go for ecliptical.

Re:You're not doing it right.

[merlin_jim]

Any planet with a magnetic field will have a south pole (and a north pole, of course), which will probably be on the rotational axis of the planet, and which will not necessarily point the same direction in 3-space as Earth's south pole.

You don't even need a magnetic field...

Universal definitions:

East is in the direction of the planet's rotation

West is the opposite of East

If you face East, North is on your left and South is on your right.

For bodies that are tidally locked it gets more complicated... but since Saturn isn't, it has clearly defined North and South poles

In addition, for planets with a magnetic field, there's a magnetic North and magnetic South pole. However, pinpointing the location of a magnetic pole isn't as easy as a rotational pole (as it tends to move over time), so when speaking of poles, it can be assumed you're discussing a rotational pole rather than magnetic.