Hubble
telescope captures stunningly clear image of summertime on Saturn
By Jack Guy,
CNN
Hubble
captured the image on July 4, when the giant planet was 839 million miles from
Earth, according to a statement from NASA released Thursday.
It shows
what summertime is like in Saturn's northern hemisphere, which is pointed
toward Earth, and a slight reddish haze can be seen over the area.
Scientists
say this may be the result of heating due to increased sunlight, which could
affect circulation or the ice content of the atmosphere.
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Another
possibility is that more sunlight leads to changes in how much photochemical
haze is produced.
"It's
amazing that even over a few years, we're seeing seasonal changes on
Saturn," said lead investigator Amy Simon of NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center.
Hubble Space
Telescope celebrates 30 years of discoveries and awe-inspiring images
Look closely
at the photo and you'll notice a blue hue at the south pole, which is due to
changes in the planet's winter atmosphere.
You can also
see two of Saturn's moons in the image: Mimas to the right, and Enceladus at
the bottom.
The image is
part of a project named Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL), which aims to
improve our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and evolution on gas giant
planets such as Saturn and Jupiter.
OPAL
scientists are looking into weather patterns and storms on Saturn, with various
small atmospheric storms noted in this photo.
The picture
is also sharp enough to show how the color of certain bands changes slightly
each year. Saturn is largely yellow-brown in color due to the fact that the
atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with traces of ammonia, methane, water
vapor and hydrocarbons.
You can also
see Saturn's famous rings in incredible detail.
They consist
mostly of pieces of ice, but no one really understands how and when they
formed.
Many
scientists believe they are more than 4 billion years old, the same age as
Saturn itself, but others say they only came into being a few hundred million
years ago, when dinosaurs walked the Earth.
In April,
Hubble celebrated 30 years in space, during which time its images have contributed
to a raft of exciting discoveries.
Hubble has
enabled astronomers around the world to study black holes, mysterious dark
energy, distant galaxies and galactic mergers.
It has
observed planets outside of our solar system and where they form around stars,
star formation and death, and it's even spotted previously unknown moons around
Pluto.
Not bad for
a telescope that was only designed to last 15 years.