APOD: Saturns Rings from the Dark Side (2012 Dec 31)

[owlice]

Ah, Chris, thank you very much!! That makes much more sense!!

(And wowsers on that image!)

[RedFishBlueFish]

Moon shadows on Saturn typically appear inky black, just as the shadows of the rings do. I don't know what the spot is -- maybe a camera or processing artifact -- but it appears far too light to me to be a moon shadow.

7205_17346_1p.jpg

I assume we're talking about the circular structure below the rings, towards the lower pole? It's just a storm system. The same system shows up in other images made around the same time, such as the one here taken a couple of weeks later.

Bueno.

The lack of an inflow pattern in the surrounding atmosphere remains a mystery to me. Although from looking at images of Jupiter such seems to be the case with many such.

It is like seeing the eye, but not the inflow whirl, of a tropical cyclone.

[ronavoig]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap950705.html One of the original APOD's featured Saturn from the backside by Voyager 1. An interesting contrast between the two photos. One above the plane of the rings ; the other below?? Ron