by Ann » Fri Aug 30, 2024 5:10 am
paumontplet wrote: ↑Thu Aug 29, 2024 8:57 pm
Ann wrote: ↑Tue Aug 27, 2024 4:36 am
Yes, that's a nice APOD!
But I have a few questions:
1) Why is Saturn so very "strongly striped"? Only Jupiter is that striped, right?
2) Why is Saturn so colorful? It colors range from yellow-white to yellowish ochre to dark tan to peach to bluish gray. Saturn isn't usually that colorful.
3) Why isn't Saturn brighter compared with the Moon? The albedo (reflectivity) of Saturn is considerably higher than the albedo of the Moon. Is it because Saturn is so much farther away from the Sun compared with the Moon, so that there is less sunlight for Saturn to reflect?
Let's look at a May 2024 picture of Saturn:
Ann
Hello Ann, I'm the author of this image (APOD)
Yes, Saturn has many stripes. although less contrasted than Jupiter.
The Saturn that you sent is a little off in color, this planet is not brown. Okay, maybe not as colorful as mine either, it only has saturated colors and the blue tones lowered a little so that that pretty color comes out. I send my best image of this planet:
Thank you for your reply to me, Pau Montplet!
I am very well aware that deep sky objects look different in different images, due to different photographers' equipment, seeing, exposure time, position of the object in the sky, and, not least, the processing of the image.
I have indeed seen other images of Saturn where the planet looks strongly striped. However, most Saturn images don't look like that.
I have also seen a very few images where Saturn looks very colorful. I particularly remember a blatantly false color Voyager 1 image:
I remember being angry at the Voyager 1 false color images of Saturn, because I thought that NASA was lying to me! But the main reason for painting Saturn in such glaring colors was undoubtedly to bring out the stripes of the planet's atmosphere, which are mostly hidden under a layer of haze.
Most pictures of Saturn show the sixth planet of the solar system as mostly pale yellow in color. If you take a look at the
Wikipedia entry on Saturn, all seven color pictures of the planets there are more yellow and less blue than yours.
But I did find one image that somewhat matches yours, and it is described as natural color, too:
Ann
[quote=paumontplet post_id=341006 time=1724965040 user_id=147290]
[quote=Ann post_id=340974 time=1724733374 user_id=129702]
Yes, that's a nice APOD! :D
[img3="Moon Eclipses Saturn.
Image Credit & Copyright: Pau Montplet Sanz"]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/MoonEclipsesSaturn_Sanz_960.jpg[/img3]
But I have a few questions:
1) Why is Saturn so very "strongly striped"? Only Jupiter is that striped, right?
2) Why is Saturn so colorful? It colors range from yellow-white to yellowish ochre to dark tan to peach to bluish gray. Saturn isn't usually that colorful.
3) Why isn't Saturn brighter compared with the Moon? The albedo (reflectivity) of Saturn is considerably higher than the albedo of the Moon. Is it because Saturn is so much farther away from the Sun compared with the Moon, so that there is less sunlight for Saturn to reflect?
Let's look at a May 2024 picture of Saturn:
[img3="Saturn on May 2, 2024. Credit: Ittaku of Cloudy Nights."]https://www.cloudynights.com/uploads/gallery/album_14358/gallery_338887_14358_94287.jpg[/img3]
Ann
[/quote]
Hello Ann, I'm the author of this image (APOD)
Yes, Saturn has many stripes. although less contrasted than Jupiter.
The Saturn that you sent is a little off in color, this planet is not brown. Okay, maybe not as colorful as mine either, it only has saturated colors and the blue tones lowered a little so that that pretty color comes out. I send my best image of this planet: [img]https://i.postimg.cc/fRcCTjKs/2024-08-12-0234-2-U-RGB-Sat-lapl6-ap329.png[/img]
[/quote]
Thank you for your reply to me, Pau Montplet! :D
I am very well aware that deep sky objects look different in different images, due to different photographers' equipment, seeing, exposure time, position of the object in the sky, and, not least, the processing of the image.
I have indeed seen other images of Saturn where the planet looks strongly striped. However, most Saturn images don't look like that.
I have also seen a very few images where Saturn looks very colorful. I particularly remember a blatantly false color Voyager 1 image:
[float=right][img3="Another version of Voyager 1's false color Saturn."]https://imgix.bustle.com/uploads/getty/2022/8/31/45e37304-ad97-445f-af99-6f06c76ec96e-getty-915226328.jpg?w=825&h=740&fit=crop&crop=faces[/img3][/float][img3="False color image of Saturn by Voyager 1."]https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/pia03152.jpg?w=849[/img3]
[clear][/clear]
I remember being angry at the Voyager 1 false color images of Saturn, because I thought that NASA was lying to me! But the main reason for painting Saturn in such glaring colors was undoubtedly to bring out the stripes of the planet's atmosphere, which are mostly hidden under a layer of haze.
Most pictures of Saturn show the sixth planet of the solar system as mostly pale yellow in color. If you take a look at the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn]Wikipedia[/url] entry on Saturn, all seven color pictures of the planets there are more yellow and less blue than yours.
But I did find one image that somewhat matches yours, and it is described as natural color, too:
[img3="Saturn, Titan, ring plane and ring shadows. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI"]https://scitechdaily.com/images/Cassini-Spacecraft-Conducts-Its-100th-Flyby-of-the-Saturn-Moon-Titan-777x727.jpg[/img3]
Ann