The Hubble Space Telescope took a fresh look at Saturn during the northern hemisphere summer.
NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), MH Wong (University of California, Berkeley) and the OPAL team
Saturn has seasons, it only takes a long time to travel thanks to its distance from the sun. Right now it’s summer on the positive side of the planet.
NASA and ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope captured a beautiful look at Saturn during the summer in its northern hemisphere. “The sharp view of Hubble shows activity of multiple clouds in bands increasingly heated by direct sunlight,” NASA said in a statement Thursday.
The telescope caught sight on July 4. The image shows some subtle changes from previous observations, including a reddish haze in the northern hemisphere that may be due to the heat of summer sunlight.
The star of Saturn’s show is always the planet’s ice rings, and they are seen in all their glory here. “The way and when the rings were formed remains one of the greatest mysteries of our solar system,” said NASA.
Two of Saturn’s many moons they appear as small bright spots against the darkness of space. Mimas is to the right of the planet and Enceladus appears below him.
If you like to play games to spot the differences, then Check out Hubble’s Saturn portrait in 2019 and see if you can spot any seasonal changes on your own.
