article_snippet: Saturn’s rotation period - the time it takes to rotate once around it axis - has been notoriously difficult to estimate in the past because of the planet’s unique properties.
article_snippet: Radio measurements by the Voyager spacecraft had estimated Saturn's day at 10 hours, 39 minutes and 22.4 seconds in the 1980s.
article_snippet: Gas giants - such as Saturn and Jupiter - do not have solid objects on their surface that allow their rotation period to be observed, so other methods of finding this property must be found.
article_snippet: Saturn’s magnetic pole is aligned with Saturn’s magnetic pole rotational axis and this means - unlike Jupiter - its rotation period cannot be calculated using the magnetic field alone.
article_snippet: Alternative methods such as measuring Saturn’s radio emissions or wind field, or tracking the planet’s clouds, had only served to increase uncertainty and resulted in a rotation period of between 10 hours and 32 minutes and 10 hours and 47 minutes.
article_snippet: The alignment of Saturn’s magnetic pole with its rotation axis precludes the use of magnetic field measurements to determine its rotation period,’ said planetary scientist Dr Ravit Helled of Tel Aviv University.
article_snippet: Here we report a period of 10 hours 32 minutes 45 seconds (plus or minus 46 seconds) based upon an optimisation approach using Saturn’s measured gravitational field and limits on the observed shape and possible internal density profiles.
article_snippet: Gas giants - such as Saturn and Jupiter - do not have solid objects on their surface that allow their rotation period to be observed, so other methods of finding this property must be found.