Saturn: An Infrared View | PIA01268 | ||
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This image is courtesy of the new Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), which has taken its first peek at Saturn. The false-color image - taken Jan. 4, 1998 - shows the planet's reflected infrared light. This view provides detailed information on the clouds and hazes in Saturn's atmosphere. | ||
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Image Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute, Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona), & NASA | |||
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The
blue colours indicate a clear atmosphere down to a main cloud layer. Different
shadings of blue indicate variations in the cloud particles, in size or
chemical composition. The cloud particles are believed to be ammonia ice
crystals. Most of the northern hemisphere that is visible above the rings
is relatively clear. The dark region around the south pole at the bottom
indicates a big hole in the main cloud layer. The green and yellow colours indicate a haze above the main cloud layer. The haze is thin where the colours are green but thick where they are yellow. Most of the southern hemisphere (the lower part of Saturn) is quite hazy. These layers are aligned with latitude lines, due to Saturn's east-west winds. The red and orange colors indicate clouds reaching up high into the atmosphere. Red clouds are even higher than orange clouds. The densest regions of two storms near Saturn's equator appear white. On Earth, the storms with the highest clouds are also found in tropical latitudes. The smaller storm on the left is about as large as the Earth, and larger storms have been recorded on Saturn in 1990 and 1994. |
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The
rings, made up of chunks of ice, are as white as images of ice taken in
visible light. However, in the infrared, water absorption causes various
colorations. The most obvious is the brown color of the innermost ring.
The rings cast their shadow onto Saturn. The bright line seen within this
shadow is sunlight shining through the Cassini Division, the separation
between the two bright rings. It is best observed on the left side, just
above the rings. This view is possible due to a rare geometry during the
observation. The next time this is observable from Earth will be in 2006.
An accurate investigation of the ring's shadow also shows sunlight shining
through the Encke Gap, a thin division very close to the outer edge of the
ring system. Two of Saturn's satellites were recorded, Dione on the lower left and Tethys on the upper right. Tethys is just ending its transit across the disk of Saturn. They appear in different colors, yellow and green, indicating different conditions on their icy surfaces. |
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