NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided images of Saturn in many colors, from black-and-white, to orange, to blue, green, and red. But in this picture, image processing specialists have worked to provide a crisp, extremely accurate view of Saturn, which highlights the planet's pastel colors. Bands of subtle color – yellows, browns, grays – distinguish differences in the clouds over Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system.
Saturn's high-altitude clouds are made of colorless ammonia ice. Above these clouds is a layer of haze or smog, produced when ultraviolet light from the sun shines on methane gas. The smog contributes to the planet's subtle color variations. One of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, is seen casting a shadow on the giant planet as it passes just above the ring system.
The flattened disk swirling around Saturn is the planet's most recognizable feature, and this image displays it in sharp detail. This is the planet's ring system, consisting mostly of chunks of water ice. Although it appears as if the disk is composed of only a few rings, it actually consists of tens of thousands of thin "ringlets." This picture also shows the two classic divisions in the ring system. The narrow Encke Gap is nearest to the disk's outer edge; the Cassini division, is the wide gap near the center.
Scientists study Saturn and its ring system to gain insight into the birth of our solar system.
Credits
Image
AURA, STScI, NASA, Hubble Heritage Project (STScI, AURA)
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Saturn |
| Object Description | Planet |
| Distance | At the time of observation, Sature was 1,300 million km (8.5 Astronomical Units) from earth. |
| Dimensions | 120,000 km across the equator. This image is roughly 40 arcseconds on the vertical side. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | Principal Astronomers: R. French (Wellesley College), J. Cuzzi, L. Dones, and J. Lissauer (NASA/Ames Research Center) |
| Instrument | HST>WFPC2 |
| Exposure Dates | September 30, 1996, Exposure Time: 10 minutes |
| Filters | F439W (B)F555W (V), and F675W (R) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | Blue: F439W (B) Green: F555W (V) F675W (R) |
| 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. |
