The date and time the release content became public.Ī brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. The camera filters that were used in the science observations. The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. The science instrument used to produce the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator. Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data.Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. Solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.ĭeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and the OPAL Team KeywordsĪ name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), M.H. In Saturn's case, astronomers continue tracking shifting weather patterns and storms.Ĭredits NASA, ESA, A. OPAL is helping scientists understand the atmospheric dynamics and evolution of our solar system's gas giant planets. This image is taken as part of the Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. Two of Saturn's icy moons are clearly visible in this exposure: Mimas at right, and Enceladus at bottom. "However, NASA's Cassini spacecraft measurements of tiny grains raining into Saturn's atmosphere suggest the rings can only last for 300 million more years, which is one of the arguments for a young age of the ring system," said team member Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley. Many astronomers agree that there is no satisfactory theory that explains how rings could have formed within just the past few hundred million years. But because the rings are so bright – like freshly fallen snow – a competing theory is that they may have formed during the age of the dinosaurs. Conventional wisdom is that they are as old as the planet, over 4 billion years. Just how and when the rings formed remains one of our solar system's biggest mysteries. The rings are mostly made of pieces of ice, with sizes ranging from tiny grains to giant boulders. Hubble's sharp view resolves the finely etched concentric ring structure. Conversely, the just-now-visible south pole has a blue hue, reflecting changes in Saturn's winter hemisphere. "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 in Greenbelt, Maryland. Another theory is that the increased sunlight in the summer months is changing the amounts of photochemical haze produced. This may be due to heating from increased sunlight, which could either change the atmospheric circulation or perhaps remove ices from aerosols in the atmosphere. Hubble photographed a slight reddish haze over the northern hemisphere in this color composite. The ringed planet's atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with traces of ammonia, methane, water vapor, and hydrocarbons that give it a yellowish-brown color. The banding in the northern hemisphere remains pronounced as seen in Hubble's 2019 observations, with several bands slightly changing color from year to year. These are transient features that appear to come and go with each yearly Hubble observation. Hubble found a number of small atmospheric storms. This new Saturn image was taken during summer in the planet's northern hemisphere. Saturn is truly the lord of the rings in this latest snapshot from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, taken on July 4, 2020, when the opulent giant world was 839 million miles from Earth.
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