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Colorful stripes in yellow, white, and reddish-orange cover the planet. Saturn is tilted slightly toward us, allowing the Sun to illuminate the top of its rings. Three of Saturn's moons are visible as faint white dots: Janus, just below its rings on the left; Epimetheus, to the right of its rings on the right side; and Mimas, which is directly in front of Saturn, slightly below its rings, on the left side of the planet, casting a shadow on its clouds.

Saturn – Visible Light, August 2024

This visible-light image of Saturn, captured August 22, 2024, by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope as part of its long-running Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, reveals the planet’s softly banded atmosphere and bright ring system. Several of Saturn’s larger moons appear in the image. Janus is visible to the left of the planet along the rings, while Mimas appears closer to the disk as a small point of light, with its shadow superimposed on Saturn. On the right side of the image is Epimetheus, a moon that shares a unique co-orbital relationship with Janus. The image helps scientists track seasonal changes, storms, and evolving atmospheric features on the ringed giant over time.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
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Image CreditNASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)
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