Hubble serving the earth for the last 3 decades has provided us with astonishing space images. Still going strong orbiting 547 km above the earth, it has never ceased to amaze us with its detailed photography from space. The latest image of Saturn is the best one yet.
This image of Saturn is so clear it gives scientists a detailed view on its atmospheric dynamics. Orbiting 839 million miles away from us, this mesmerising gas giant is nothing but a small dot visible to our naked eye, if it not were for the Hubble. The picture is so detailed, we can see two of Saturn’s 82 moons, Mimas at right, and Enceladus at bottom.
This sharp image details Saturn’s concentric rings perfectly which are made of mostly ice. Although believed to be as old as 4 billion years old, the exact age of these rings is still a mystery. There is another theory saying that the rings did form when the dinosaurs were roaming the earth.
Far from the Sun, Saturn gets its heat from its interior and stays a cool -178 degrees Celsius. Nasa believes the red hue on the northern hemisphere of the Saturn in this picture is due to Sun’s heat and displays its summertime. And the southern hemisphere sports a blue hue as the south pole is on its winter.
This picture is a part of an ongoing project called, Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL). And in this case it is helping scientists to study Saturn’s shifting weather patterns and storms.