JWST Reveals Saturn’s Apparent Spin Is a Wind-Driven Auroral Cycle

Using JWST, researchers mapped Saturn’s aurora-driven upper-atmosphere heating and found that winds generate electrical currents which power the aurora, creating a self-sustaining cycle that makes Saturn’s rotation appear to vary when measured by auroral signals rather than by actual spin; the results solve decades of confusion about a possible spin change and reveal a planetary heat-pump like link between Saturn’s atmosphere and magnetosphere, with implications for other worlds.