Aurora's and planets ... is my thinking correct?

Question

I was watching a program that showed saturn has aurora's .
I got wondering ..

so if they both have aurora's therefore an atmosphere .. does saturn have a magnetic field also ?

also this might become a duh Karissa! answer's in the question moment but i'm wondering since rocky planets show no visible atmosphere, they don't get aurora's . Is my thinking correct ?

and do rocky planets get aurora's?

Answer 1

all planets have a magnetic field.
all planets including our moon have some sort of atmosphere.

the moon's compared to ours is insignificant though.
Saturn is considered a gas giant. meaning its practically all atmosphere. Mostly hydrogen and helium.
its tiny core is made of rock and ice
Saturn's Magnetosphere is stronger than our own.

auroras are made from charged electrons flying from the sun then directed toward the planets poles by means of the magnetosphere . When they hit an atom, the atom glows. So even a small small amount of atoms, meaning a very thin layer of nearly invisible atmoshpere can still glow.

The moon may be an exception, though because it has very very very very thin atmosphere. plus is magnetic field is different. its like a random, kinda swiss cheese looking thing so It can't direct the electrons to the poles.

No, your thinking is not correct. Sorry.
Yes rocky? planets could theoretically have auroras.

colorsunfriday. I'm sorry but yes the moon does too have these elements.

The Moon has an external magnetic field of the order of one to a hundred nanotesla - more than 100 times smaller than the Earth's, which is 30 to 60 microtesla. Other major differences are that the Moon does not currently have a dipolar magnetic field (as would be generated by a geodynamo in its core), and the magnetizations that are present are almost entirely crustal in origin.

The Moon has an atmosphere so thin as to be almost negligible. One source of the little there is comes from outgassing — the release of gases such as radon that originate by radioactive decay processes within the crust and mantle. Another important source is generated through the process of sputtering, which involves the bombardment of micrometeorites, solar wind ions, electrons, and sunlight

sorry...... I could go on forever. Just check out wiki. Its all right there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

I hope this answers your question
sorry for the bad news though

Answer 2

Yes saturn does have a magnetic field. It gets it because of its composition. Saturn, like jupiter, is mostly hydrogen and helium and the hydrogen is so compressed it can conduct electricity. It has some of the characteristics of a metal and so it is called metallic hydrogen.

You are slightly off with the terrestrial (rocky) planets. You need two things to see auroras: an atmosphere and a magneticfield. Earth has both and so we can see auroras. Venus has a very dense atmosphere but has almost no magneticfield. So no auroras. Venus doesn´t rotate fast enough to generate a magneticfield.
Mars has hardly any atmosphere and magneticfield either. So no auroras. And the atmosphere of mercury is close to a perfect vacuum so it does not get auroras despite having a magnetic field (recently discovered).

Answer 3

Yes, Saturn has a very strong magnetic field, and a magnetic field and an atmosphere are both needed for an aurora. it is caused by the solar wind striking a planet's magnetic field and being funneled into either the southern or northern magnetic poles, and hitting the upper atmoshpere. it is basically the same thing happening in florescent tubes. The moon does NOT have a magnetic field, or an atmosphere. magnetic fields are caused by liquid metal cores churning in the planet. Hope this helps.

OK, technically, the guy above is correct, the moon has a very, very, very, tiny atmosphere, probably from outgassing as he says, but for the purposes of an aurora, it's not applicable. Most small bodies will have some outgassed atoms above it, it does not constitute an atmosphere that can produce auroras. Same for the magnetic field. for aurora's to form, you need a dipolar magnetic field, as produced by a geodynamo. The moons magnetic field is crustal and transient in nature, and way too small. Show me an example of a lunar aurora!

Answer 4

Well, Earth is essentially a rocky planet, and we have an atmosphere. Venus has lots of atmosphere, but virtually no magnetic field. It therefore doesn't have auroras like Earth's, though its upper atmosphere may fluoresce slightly from the solar wind. It takes both an atmosphere and a relatively strong dipole magnetic field to produce strong auroral displays. The magnetic field directs charged particles in the solar wind to hit the atmosphere in concentrated bands, and gasses in the upper atmosphere fluoresce to make visible light.

Answer 5

I would consider Earth a rocky planet and it experiences auroras at both poles.

I've seen the Aurora from the ground in Alaska and photos of both poles taken from space.