This close-up of the tops of Saturn [
http://seds.lpl.ari… ]'s clouds was taken by the Voyager [
http://www.jpl.nasa… ] 1 robot spacecraft as it passed the giant planet in November 1980. Saturn's clouds [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] are mostly composed of hydrogen [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] and helium [
http://antwrp.gsfc.… ] gas, but the small addition of other elements gives the clouds their colors. These colors have been computer enhanced in the above photograph [
http://www-pdsimage… ]. Usually the clouds are divided into just bands and belt, but the center of this photograph shows the addition of a red oval cloud. The oval's origin remains a mystery, although its color indicates that its composition is slightly different than surrounding clouds. A new spacecraft - Cassini [
http://www.jpl.nasa… ] - will visit Saturn [
http://bang.lanl.go… ] and is currently scheduled for launch in 1997.
explanation
This close-up of the tops of Saturn [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/saturn.html ]'s clouds was taken by the Voyager [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mip/voyager.html ] 1 robot spacecraft as it passed the giant planet in November 1980. Saturn's clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951018.html ] are mostly composed of hydrogen [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html#hydrogen ] and helium [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/glossary.html#helium ] gas, but the small addition of other elements gives the clouds their colors. These colors have been computer enhanced in the above photograph [ http://www-pdsimage.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/PIAGenCatalogPage.pl?PIA00025 ]. Usually the clouds are divided into just bands and belt, but the center of this photograph shows the addition of a red oval cloud. The oval's origin remains a mystery, although its color indicates that its composition is slightly different than surrounding clouds. A new spacecraft - Cassini [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ] - will visit Saturn [ http://bang.lanl.gov/solarsys/saturn.htm ] and is currently scheduled for launch in 1997.
Explanation
false