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Saturn

Yellow sphere with horizontal banding

Hubble’s new look at Saturn on September 12 shows rapid and extreme color changes of the bands in the planet’s northern hemisphere, where it is now early autumn. The bands have varied throughout Hubble observations in both 2019 and 2020. Notably, Saturn’s iconic hexagonal storm, first discovered in 1981 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, was difficult to distinguish in 2020, but it is again clearly evident in 2021. Hubble’s Saturn image catches the planet following the southern hemisphere’s winter, evident in the lingering blue-ish hue of the south pole.

About the Object

  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    At the time of observations, the planet was 9.17 AU from Earth (about 850 million miles).
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    The planet (without rings) has a diameter of roughly 75,000 miles (120,000 km) at the equator.

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    The HST observations include those from program 16266 (A. Simon)

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    WFC3/UVIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    12 Sep 2021
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    F395N, F502N, F631N
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Saturn
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Planet
  • Release Date
    November 18, 2021
  • Science Release
    Hubble’s Grand Tour of the Outer Solar System
    Read the release
  • Credit
    NASA, ESA, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC), Michael Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Downloads

  • Full Res, 1802 × 1087
    tif (1.11 MB)
  • Full Res, 1802 × 1087
    png (794.84 KB)
Yellow sphere with horizontal banding
Color Info
Color InfoA brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.

These images are a composite of separate exposures acquired by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Several filters were used to sample medium wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F395N, Green: F502N, Red: F631N

Compass and Scale
Compass and ScaleAn astronomical image with a scale that shows how large an object is on the sky, a compass that shows how the object is oriented on the sky, and the filters with which the image was made.

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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