File:Saturn in natural colors (captured by the Hubble Space Telescope).jpg

Summary

The NASA/ESA <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope" class="extiw" title="en:Hubble Space Telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</a> has provided images of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn" class="extiw" title="en:Saturn">Saturn</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/solar_system" class="extiw" title="en:solar system">solar system</a>.

Saturn's high-altitude clouds are made of colorless <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ammonia" class="extiw" title="en:ammonia">ammonia</a> ice. Above these clouds is a layer of haze or smog, produced when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ultraviolet" class="extiw" title="en:ultraviolet">ultraviolet</a> light from the sun shines on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/methane" class="extiw" title="en:methane">methane</a> gas. The smog contributes to the planet's subtle color variations. One of Saturn's moons, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enceladus_(moon)" class="extiw" title="en:Enceladus (moon)">Enceladus</a>, 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Encke_Gap" class="extiw" title="en:Rings of Saturn">Encke Gap</a> is nearest to the disk's outer edge; the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Saturn#Cassini_Division" class="extiw" title="en:Rings of Saturn">Cassini division</a>, is the wide gap near the center.

Licensing

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