Posted on Jul 24, 2022
APOD: 2022 July 24 - Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
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Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the July 24th edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Saturn in Infrared from Cassini." This was one of the last APODs published from Cassini before the mission ended in 2017. First shared in April 2017, we see the Northern Hexagon, clouds, rings, and shadows (from the rings) rendered in infrared. The Sun would be at the lower right off camera. Here's how NASA's Science Directorate describes Saturn's unique North Pole:
"Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the Solar System. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern Saturn in late 2012, the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera recorded this stunning, false-color image of the ringed planet's north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the Saturnian cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the stability of the hexagon even 20+ years after Voyager. Movies of Saturn's North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its hexagonal structure while rotating. Unlike individual clouds appearing like a hexagon on Earth, the Saturn cloud pattern appears to have six well defined sides of nearly equal length. Four Earths could fit inside the hexagon."
"Why would clouds form a hexagon on Saturn? Nobody is sure. Originally discovered during the Voyager flybys of Saturn in the 1980s, nobody has ever seen anything like it anywhere else in the Solar System. Acquiring its first sunlit views of far northern Saturn in late 2012, the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera recorded this stunning, false-color image of the ringed planet's north pole. The composite of near-infrared image data results in red hues for low clouds and green for high ones, giving the Saturnian cloudscape a vivid appearance. This and similar images show the stability of the hexagon even 20+ years after Voyager. Movies of Saturn's North Pole show the cloud structure maintaining its hexagonal structure while rotating. Unlike individual clouds appearing like a hexagon on Earth, the Saturn cloud pattern appears to have six well defined sides of nearly equal length. Four Earths could fit inside the hexagon."
APOD: 2022 July 24 - Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 4
Posted 2 y ago
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price good morning my friend, and good to see you on the RP July 24, 2022 . I have said it many times before, yet I will say it again, "nobody does it better from above". Thank you for sharing Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD): "Saturn in Infrared from Cassini."
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk SGT (Join to see) PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) SrA John Monette SFC (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell SMSgt Anil Heendeniya CPL Douglas Chrysler A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney GySgt Jack Wallace SGT Mark Anderson SGT Steve McFarland
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk SGT (Join to see) PO2 Marco Monsalve SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] SSG William Jones Sgt (Join to see) SrA John Monette SFC (Join to see) SPC Michael Terrell SMSgt Anil Heendeniya CPL Douglas Chrysler A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney GySgt Jack Wallace SGT Mark Anderson SGT Steve McFarland
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price that hexagon is a very strange sight. We will most likely never know what causes it?
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Maj William W. 'Bill' Price
2 y
CWO3 Dennis M. I agree...we will likely never "know". But I think solar winds and magnetic fields will play a part. Check this out: an aurora on Saturn.
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