While here in America dramatic changes are happening in our political climate even more dramatic changes are happening out in space.

Saturn Changing Colors

Saturn has changed colors. No one is very sure why Saturn has changed colors. Luckily not all of Saturn has changed but the north-pole, which is a storm that could easily swallow the whole of planet Earth.

A probe has been tracking the storm on Saturn since 2004 but still the scientists tracking it are not sure what has happened to cause the change in colors.

In 2012 the pole was blue, and now it seems to have transformed completely into a bright gold color.

Although this sounds bizarre, this is not the first time Saturn’s pole has changed colors. Between 1995 and the early two thousands the pole became increasingly darker. The scientists studying the planet concluded that it was because there were fewer photons getting to the surface of Saturn. This means that there was not enough light reacting with the atmosphere of the planet.

Now that the pole is tipping back towards the sun the pole of the planet is developing a brilliant gold color.

NASA believes that this could just be a result of a change of “season” for the giant planet. This change is huge, and while it would be a concern if a large part of the Earth would turn gold, scientists are now just starting to understand Saturn and how the planet works. This could take decades or centuries to understand. Because the planet is much bigger, its seasons are bigger and its changes are bigger and it is going to take abundant research to understand what is causing these changes.

Hopefully, NASA will continue to have the funding to conduct this research as the current change is a very hot topic in the scientific community.

All images via NASA.

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