NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has observation time devoted to Saturn each year, thanks to the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, and the dynamic gas giant planet always shows us something new. This latest image heralds the start of Saturn's "spoke season" with the appearance of two smudgy spokes (shown in the white circle) in the B ring, on the left in the image.
The shape and shading of spokes varies—they can appear light or dark, depending on the viewing angle, and sometimes appear more like blobs than classic radial spoke shapes, as seen here. The ephemeral features don't last long, but as the planet's autumnal equinox approaches on May 6, 2025, more will appear. Scientists will be looking for clues to explain the cause and nature of the spokes. It's suspected they are ring material that is temporarily charged and levitated by interaction between Saturn's magnetic field and the solar wind, but this hypothesis has not been confirmed.
Credits
Science
NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)
Image Processing
Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Saturn |
| Object Description | Gas giant with rings |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created with Hubble data from proposal: (A. Simon). |
| Instrument | WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 22 Sept. 2022 |
| Filters | F395N, F502N, F631N |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope using the WFC3/UVIS instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Red: F631N, Green: F502N, Blue: F395N |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
