Saturn Seen From Far And Near

RINGWORLDS

The top image is a view from NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope taken on March 22, 2004. Camera exposures in four filters (blue, blue-green, green and red) were combined to form the Hubble image and render colors similar to what the eye would see through a telescope focused on Saturn. The subtle pastel colors of ammonia-methane clouds trace a variety of atmospheric dynamics. Saturn displays its familiar banded structure, with haze and clouds at various altitudes. Like Jupiter, all bands are parallel to Saturn's equator. The magnificent rings, at nearly their maximum tilt toward Earth, show subtle hues which indicate the trace chemical differences in their icy composition. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft returned the bottom image of Saturn on May 16, 2004, when its imaging science subsystem narrow-angle camera was too close to fit the entire planet in its field-of-view. Cassini is still about 20 million kilometers (12.4 million miles) away and only 36 days from reaching Saturn. Cassini has two cameras, a wide angle and narrow angle. This narrow angle image was made using a combination of three filters (red, green, blue) and was taken at a range of 24.3 million kilometers (15.1 million miles). The view is from 13 degrees below the equator. Enceladus, one of Saturn�s 31 known moons, appears near the south pole at the bottom of the image. (The color differences between the Hubble and Cassini images are mainly due to the different sets of filters used. Image Credits: Hubble: NASA, ESA and Erich Karkoschka, Cassini Imaging Team. Full size image

Pasadena (JPL) May 27, 2004
As Saturn grows closer through the eyes of the Cassini spacecraft, which is hurtling toward a rendezvous with the ringed world on June 30 (July 1, Universal Time), both Cassini and the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope snapped spectacular pictures of the planet and its magnificent rings.

Cassini is approaching Saturn at an oblique angle to the Sun and from below the ecliptic plane. Cassini has a very different view of Saturn than Hubble's Earth-centered view. For the first time, astronomers can compare views of equal sharpness of Saturn from two very different perspectives.

The view from Hubble, taken on March 22, 2004, is so sharp that many individual Saturnian ringlets can be seen. When Cassini returned its picture of Saturn on May 16, it was so close to the planet that the imaging science subsystem narrow-angle camera could not fit the whole planet in its field-of-view. Cassini is still about 20 million kilometers (about 12.4 million miles) away and only 36 days from reaching Saturn.

Hubble's exquisite optics, coupled with the high resolution of its Advanced Camera for Surveys, allow it to take pictures of Saturn which are nearly as sharp as Cassini's, even though Hubble is nearly a billion miles farther from Saturn than Cassini.

Cassini will ultimately far exceed the resolution of Hubble during its close encounter with Saturn. Cassini's sharpness began to surpass Hubble's when it came to within 23 million kilometers (14 million miles) of Saturn earlier this month.

Camera exposures in four filters (blue, blue-green, green and red) were combined to form the Hubble image, to render colors similar to what the eye would see through a telescope focused on Saturn.

The subtle pastel colors of ammonia- methane clouds trace a variety of atmospheric dynamics. Saturn displays its familiar banded structure, and haze and clouds of various altitudes.

Like Jupiter, all bands are parallel to Saturn's equator. Even the magnificent rings, at nearly their maximum tilt toward Earth, show subtle hues, which indicate the trace chemical differences in their icy composition.

Cassini has two cameras, a wide angle and narrow angle. This narrow angle image was made using a combination of three filters (red, green, blue) and was taken at a range of 24.3 million kilometers (15.1 million miles). The view is from 13 degrees below the equator. Enceladus, one of Saturn's 31 known moons, appears near the south pole at the bottom of the image.

The color differences between the Hubble and Cassini images are mainly due to the different sets of filters used.

More than two decades have passed since a spacecraft last visited Saturn - NASA's Voyager 2 flew by Saturn in August 1981. Since 1990, Hubble has produced high-resolution Saturn images, tracking storms and auroral activity while providing crisp views of the rings over time and from various angles.

Cassini will begin a four-year mission in orbit around Saturn when it arrives on June 30, 2004 (July 1, 2004 Univeral Time). Six months later it will release its piggybacked Huygens probe for descent through Titan's thick atmosphere.

RINGWORLDS

Cassini Captures Pandora and Prometheus Near F Ring

Pasadena - May 25, 2004
Two of Saturn's moon's Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) and Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across), are seen here shepherding the planet's narrow F-ring. Prometheus (left) overtakes Pandora in orbit around Saturn about every 25 days. Slightly above the pair and to the right is another moon, Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across).

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