Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 June 23
     [2]Saturn is shown taking up most of the frame. Most of the planet
   appears a banded gold. A thin line that is the rings appears dark brown
   and runs diagonally from the lower left. The upper part has dark bands
       which are shadows and behind the shadows the color of Saturn's
    atmosphere appears blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                      The Colors of Saturn from Cassini
   Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]ESA, [5]JPL, [6]ISS, [7]Cassini Imaging Team;
                  Processing & [8]License: [9]Judy Schmidt

   Explanation: What creates Saturn's colors? The [10]featured picture of
   Saturn only slightly exaggerates what a [11]human would see if hovering
   close to the giant ringed world. The image was taken in 2005 by the
   robot [12]Cassini spacecraft that orbited [13]Saturn from 2004 to 2017.
   Here [14]Saturn's majestic rings appear directly only as a curved line,
   appearing brown, in part from its [15]infrared glow. The rings best
   show their complex structure in the [16]dark shadows they create across
   the upper part of the planet. The northern hemisphere of [17]Saturn can
   appear partly blue for the same reason that [18]Earth's skies can
   appear blue -- molecules in the cloudless portions of both planet's
   atmospheres are better at scattering blue light than red. When looking
   deep into [19]Saturn's clouds, however, the natural gold hue of
   Saturn's clouds becomes dominant. It is [20]not known why southern
   Saturn does not show the same blue hue -- one hypothesis holds that
   clouds are higher there. It is also [21]not known why some of Saturn's
   [22]clouds are colored gold.

                     Tomorrow's picture: farthest galaxy
     __________________________________________________________________

      [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search |
   [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss |
                                    [33]>
     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([37]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [38]Specific rights apply.
            [39]NASA Web Privacy, [40]Accessibility, [41]Notices;
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC,
                         [45]NASA Science Activation
                           & [46]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/SaturnColors_CassiniSchmidt_960.jpg
   3. https://www.nasa.gov/
   4. https://www.esa.int/
   5. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
   6. http://ciclops.org/iss/iss.php
   7. http://ciclops.org/
   8. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
   9. https://geckzilla.com/
  10. https://www.flickr.com/photos/geckzilla/12713966445/in/dateposted/
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190818.html
  12. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens/Cassini_spacecraft
  13. https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn's_rings
  15. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/07_infraredwaves
  16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbCqp_a3iE
  17. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/saturns-blue-cranium/
  18. http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/BlueSky/blue_sky.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051010.html
  20. https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/04/93/02/15/360_F_493021526_XFLrdVJ5P2sF9GDz3Fsqtcbw8EhcXeQs.jpg
  21. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004cosp...35..466W/abstract
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960803.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240622.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  29. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240623
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240624.html
  34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  46. http://www.mtu.edu/